The Roads That Lead To Constantinople
by FanofPnF
Summary: After Isabella's dreams of an inevitable relationship with Phineas crashed when she saw him kissing his sister, she should have felt miserable forever. Should have. Because when a friendly green-haired boy offers her an alternative that no one would have considered possible, both Ferb and Isabella need to prepare for a date that could define their future. Direct sequel to FLSITTSA.
1. Sunday (Pinky and Phineas)

**Disclaimer: (Insert witty comment about not owning Phineas and Ferb here.) **

**Author's Note: **_As we all know, all roads lead to Rome. It doesn't matter where you come from, you will end up in the same place in the end. It was true for many roads in the Roman Empire, and Isabella Garcia-Shapiro and Ferb Fletcher long believed that that metaphor also held true for the former's relationship with Phineas Flynn, Ferb's stepbrother. No matter how long it would take, no matter what measures Isabella would have to take, she and Phineas would end up together. They were meant to be, after all - that was something that Isabella wholeheartedly believed, and which Ferb had long seen no evidence against. _

_Until one day, when Phineas Flynn happened to fall in love with someone else - with his older sister Candace. And when Ferb simultaneously began developing feelings for Isabella, feelings that he had never seen coming. _

_It was then that the roads that lead to Rome were cut off. And now, a day after Isabella saw Phineas kissing somebody who wasn't her and subsequently kissed someone who wasn't him, roads have arrived towards a new relationship, roads that are waiting to be explored._

_Well, here were are for the Ferbella sequel to FLSITTSA. A sequel that you might say is probably the first fic that I wrote on_ request, _even if said request was made some two years ago and the one who made it may well have forgotten all about it. But such is life, and I am... at least moderately content with the resulting fanfic, and I think it's a worthwhile addition to the canon/backstory of my universe here. Whether you, the reader, will agree is another matter. _

_Ferb and Isabella had their own subplot in FLSITTSA, because I ship them, and I still do to this day. But that subplot was always in the background, and even though the story left off with them __having shared a first kiss and agreeing to go on a date together, that was merely a _ start _to romance, rather than a romance in itself. And thus, this story aims to describe the confusing week that leads up to that first date the next Saturday, as our two confused characters explore a possibility they had never seriously considered before, while simultaneously Phineas and Candace's relationship continues to flourish in the background and more and more people in Danville adjust to the new status quo. That is what this story hopes to be about, and I hope that our readers will be able to appreciate it for it. _

_Oh, and ceterum censeo altitudo differentias esse delendam. _

**DAY ONE**

_ISABELLA_

We all have days on which we feel no desire to get off bed whatsoever – for Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, that day was today.

As she woke up, the thirteen-year-old girl found herself lying in her bedroom, with her dog Pinky at her feet. It was about eight in the morning, but she was still feeling tired. She had no appointments to attend today, and she wasn't particularly hungry. Her mother wasn't around, being away on her trip until the next day.

She had no real priorities to meet. There was no reason for her to get up. Staying here would simply be more comfortable. And most importantly, getting out of bed would force her to recognize all the confusing, unnerving and downright catastrophic things that had happened to her.

Just yesterday morning, she had been looking forward to the best day of her life (well, aside from her wedding day – and _maybe_ a promotion in the Fireside Girls) – the day on which she would _finally_ go on that date with Phineas that she had craved for so long. One that _he_ had been the one to ask her out on, no less. The start had been… well, as perfect as she could have expected from him, given his enduring oblivious nature. Even now, Isabella's memories liked to just flock back to that perfect date and stay there forever, safely sealed away from reality. And as long as she was here in bed, she could do that.

But she couldn't stay here forever. She knew that. Sooner or later, Isabella would have to confront the true realities of what had happened… and they were very confusing truths.

The truth that Phineas had never been in love with her, and that what she had occasionally been doing the past couple of years by trying to get The Day to happen faster wasn't her contribution to their inevitable romance, but an act of stalking that was no better than what _Irving_ would do. (Worse, possibly.)

The truth that Phineas had somehow ended up in a relationship with his own _sister_.

And last but not least, the truth that _Ferb Fletcher_ had kissed her.

It was funny – those first two things should have left her feeling devastated. And they had, for a time. But the third thing had ensured that on this Sunday morning, Isabella was left feeling more confused than anything.

Ferb had a way of doing that, it seemed.

"What happened, Pinky?" she spoke up, shaking her head. "I should be a mental wreck. And yet, I'm… fine, almost." She pressed her head into the pillow. "My crush dumped me for his _sister_, but I feel okay."

Pinky raised his ear, but other than that he had no reaction to this shocking news. Fair enough. He _was_ a dog, after all. She liked talking to him as much as she could and pretending that he understood her (seriously, he probably would have heard more of her rants about Phineas than the Fireside Girls had if not for the fact that he occasionally went missing), but he'd sooner understand television and computers than the complexities of incest.

Incest. Just thinking of the word made her stomach curl up and made her want to hide under her blankets forever, not having to face the cruel outside world – except that first of all, she _knew_ that Phineas wasn't cruel, as every aspect of the conversation she'd had with him last night pointed to that fact, and secondly, there was Ferb – who, again, helped make dull confusion replace the pain that she couldn't help but feel in her heart.

"Where did I go wrong?" she whispered. "I… I didn't try to stalk him. I loved him – or at least, I thought I did. But apparently… apparently he preferred _her_." She stared up at the ceiling. "Nice going, Isabella. You lost your crush to his sister."

She shook her head. Talking to yourself in the third person just wasn't funny anymore.

The thing about it, though, was that there was little else that she could do right now. Even if she didn't feel pain, she still had no real direction in which she could go. She had talked to Phineas last night and agreed that they probably shouldn't interact again over the next couple of days. And although not going over to the Flynn-Fletchers would be strange after so many years in which that had been her routine almost every day, even on days on which there were no projects, actually going over there and pretending that nothing was happening would be even stranger. Seeing Phineas again… it would only increase the awkwardness. She would be constantly aware of the fact that she was looking at her old crush, constantly replaying _that kiss_ in her memories…

…well, that, or it would be replaced by the _other_ kiss, the one she _had_ been involved in, and Isabella wasn't sure whether that was any better.

So she would be here. Lying down, eating a sandwich perhaps, and just… waiting. It was something all her instincts would have normally rebelled against, but right now she had no real instincts. The reason she would normally be driven to go to the other side of the road was for Phineas, after all – Phineas, whom she didn't want to see right now, and who had indicated that he didn't want to see her either. Not in so many words, and not because he disliked her – as strange as everything had gotten last night, Isabella took heart in the fact that they had managed to agree that their friendship still stood – but because he couldn't deal with all the tension between them either. It was better for things to cool off, he'd argued.

That was… fair enough. Phineas had never been very good with arguments and lingering tensions – he was simply too optimistic for all of that, too used to things going not just his way but _everybody's_ way. And of course he had only recently found out about her crush on him (or at least, that was what she'd assumed from last night's chaotic conversations) and since yesterday, she knew that he knew (and he knew that she knew that he knew), and that would be bound to alter their dynamic on top of everything else.

So she would wait here. Wait until… life could resume its normal course, if it ever would.

Isabella sighed. Her crush had always been important to her, but when she was arguing with herself like this it was almost like it was the only thing in her life, which… well, it wasn't. There were the Fireside Girls, and… her family? And there was her friendship with the Flynn-Fletchers that hadn't been broken, of course, even if it had been dramatically altered. Still, a large part of what she had imagined to be her future was just gone now. And she would have to figure out how to deal with it.

She wondered if this was how Candace had felt a couple of weeks ago, when she and Jeremy had broken up. From the stories she'd heard, the other girl had certainly been desolate, and although Isabella had grasped that that was a Bad Thing she hadn't quite realized what it entailed then, confident as she was that her _own_ romantic future was secure, and focusing on details of that hypothetical romantic future rather than on compassion for Candace. It felt very different now that said future had been blasted into smithereens.

Of course, there was one big difference between the two of them – that for some reason, where Phineas only had friendship to offer to her and hadn't in the end been able to say many supporting words last night over _her_ problems, he had had something else entirely to offer to his distraught older sister…

No. She was not thinking about that. Isabella shuddered. Phineas and Candace… no. That was probably the best reason she had to stay away from the Flynn-Fletcher household. No matter her own romantic interests in Phineas, that was just _creepy_.

It was the _best_ reason to stay away from the Flynn-Fletchers, for sure. The most understandable reason to… well, to just about anyone else who knew anything about the concept of 'incest', even if they would never expect it to enter their lives. But it still was far from being the only thing currently keeping her away from that place across the street. Because her kiss with Ferb…

Unwillingly, Isabella's mind went back to yesterday evening. Not to that terrible moment on the doorstep of the Flynn-Fletcher home, when she caught her Phineas being more active and loving than she had ever seen him be, a picture taken straight from her wildest dreams and one that would be beyond incredible and unbelievable to see in real life, only with Candace… that moment was easy to remember, far too easy, but it was also strangely easy to dispel as she concentrated on those other things. On the fact that when she had been dumped at Paul Bunyan's, her thoughts had been of Ferb Fletcher, the boy she trusted to come and get her. That even when she had just seen _that_ kiss, when her mind should be focused on defense against the atrocity that had been committed against her, she had spared thoughts for being disappointed that Ferb hadn't told her anything, because she had expected better of him.

She would have had the same reaction to Phineas and Candace kissing at any time in her life. There was no way to prepare for that, and there were no circumstances under which that would go easily or normally. It was the most unreal of realities and yet it was what confronted her right now, forcing her to give up the boy of her dreams, the boy of whom she would have kept dreaming forever otherwise.

But Ferb… the aspect concerning Ferb was different. A few months ago, she wouldn't have thought of him at all in these scenario's. Ferb wasn't someone who was supposed to be relevant in all this, not any more than Buford and Baljeet were – probably less than Buford and Baljeet were. Ferb was supposed to be as irrelevant to her and Phineas' romantic future as _Candace_ was. (Granted, that one had been subverted in any case, but the thought of what might have been, of Candace encouraging rather than blocking her romantic aspirations was still present in her mind.) Under 'normal' circumstances, Isabella would have called the Fireside Girls for consolation, not Ferb. She would have been solely mad at _Phineas_, not feeling betrayed by Ferb, because Ferb was too small a presence in her life for him to ever be able to 'betray' her and because surely _incest_ and Phinabella forever being ruined was much more important.

But when Phineas had left her for Candace at that restaurant, she had called that green-haired boy who had always been in the background. She'd been at _his_ side when she barged into the Flynn-Fletcher house, and when she cried her heart out at the pool. She had felt his arms around her, and as shocked as she had been at feeling her lips meet hers she had returned the kiss, returned it not just as a distraction from Phineas, but as if this, not that special moment with Phineas that she had fantasized about for so long, had been what she had _truly_ been waiting for.

It was beyond bizarre – looking back at last night, Isabella felt as if she was watching a movie rather than pulling memories out of her own life. Partly because of Phineas and _her_, of course, but also because of her own actions. Shouting at Phineas – understandable under the circumstances, despite the conclusions she had been forced to come to later on – and then the passion with which she had locked lips with Ferb instead.

With Ferb.

With Phineas' _brother_. A boy whom, outside of the last couple of weeks, she had barely ever had extended conversations with.

She had kissed Ferb Fletcher, eagerly made out with him, and what did she even _know_ about him?

Okay, there was no need to be so dramatic about it. She did know Ferb, she always had, and she'd gotten to know him a lot better over the last couple of weeks. He was friendly. Charming. Quiet, but deep. Witty, not in the way that Phineas was with those silly jokes and corny puns, but in a more sarcastic and teasing way. He was sweet and attentive. Passive, but decisive when he wanted to be – she still remembered the way he had punched his own brother in her defense, which was… probably not the best thing he could have done, but it was understandable and it _had_ been in her defense. Even in the period in which she had truly gotten to know him, Isabella had never seen Ferb angry like that, or embarrassed like he was later on, and the fact that it was for her sake made her feel strangely intrigued towards the deep emotions that lay hidden beneath his stoic exterior.

Ferb was caring. Ferb was a gentleman. Ferb was a listener, but also a doer, competent and capable yet sweet and sensitive. He was, in short, the kind of good catch that she would ordinarily push any Fireside Girl towards. And yet he was not like that for _her_ – because he was not _Phineas_, he was Phineas' quiet brother whom she'd never taken any romantic notice of over the past couple of years, and yet also because when a Fireside Girl had come up to her and straight-up asked her to help her build a relationship with Ferb, she had been very uncomfortable with the idea.

Isabella sighed, sitting down on the couch in the living room and just listening to the ticking clock in the background. She was alone with her feelings, and it was all so complicated. Even after a good night's sleep, her emotions were still a mess. She was… never going to solve this on her own. Not before that date she'd stupidly agreed upon, at least. Because on the one hand, she wanted to go there, she wanted to explore Ferb's character… and on the other hand, she felt wrong about going with someone who wasn't Phineas, and she knew that she would be going in unprepared, unsure of whether she wanted to commit to this. Whether she could commit to this. Love, after all, was more than just stacking up reasons for why they might be good for each other. And whether _she_ was good for _Ferb_ was another thing that she had never considered – that she'd never _needed_ to consider.

She needed help.

And she didn't know where to get it.

Everyone around her knew she was in love with Phineas, everyone but Phineas himself (well, he knew _now_, of course, now that her feelings had just become irrelevant). How could she ever explain to them that those feelings were either gone or no longer relevant to her? She couldn't tell them about Phineas and his _sister_, nor about Ferb. She'd have to defend feelings she wasn't sure she had, and she had no idea where to begin with that. The Fireside Girls couldn't understand her, not when _she_ couldn't understand herself.

That was the problem with getting help, wasn't it? She didn't understand her emotions and needed advice, but in order to get that advice she would have to explain things she would prefer to keep under wraps – and, most likely, she wouldn't get anything useful out of her friends either.

"What should I do, Pinky?" she wailed. (Well, not wailed – that was putting it a bit too strongly. She was upset, but not that upset. It all had to do with that dull confusion from earlier.) "I can't ask people for help, but I can't not ask them for help." She sighed. "I don't dare ask them, because in order to get any help, I'll need to explain that I… that I might have feelings for Ferb now."

That was the crux, wasn't it? Not Phineas and Candace's… thing, because she would probably have to keep that one hidden anyway. She seemed to remember promising something like that to him yesterday, and even if she hadn't held her promises to Phineas highly, she still wouldn't have wanted to upset _Ferb_. That would just… confuse things. No, she wasn't going to tell that secret, which meant that she would have to tell her own. Try to explain her own feelings. And even if the Fireside Girls couldn't understand her, even if her mother couldn't understand her, even if everyone else she knew wouldn't understand her…

Those were excuses, really. Explanation was part of every question. Her friends still had the insights that she lacked, and if she talked to them long enough, she could at least get some answers that she hadn't come up with yet. They might not be conclusive, but the more people she asked, the better her chances would become.

No, the real reason she was reluctant had nothing to do with her acquaintances' inability to understand. The real reason was that she was afraid of spilling her feelings for Ferb.

And was it that she was afraid of _Ferb_, too?

…no. She would not be afraid of him. She was Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, troop leader of Fireside Girl troop 46231. They never gave up, and she had no intention of doing so either. A faint smile came on her face as she remembered how Phineas – the crush that he was, and the friend that he remained – would undoubtedly remind her of all the great things she had already pulled off in the past. She was not going to back down now. She would go out there, and she would ask advice, and only when she got that advice she would consider her options.

But it was probably still best to start close to home. She might need to reach out, but she would do it on her own time. She still had several days to go, after all. A week until she needed to face Ferb Fletcher again. A week until her relationship with the Flynn-Fletchers would hopefully normalize.

And Isabella was planning to make the most of that time.

"You know what, Pinky?" she said. Her dog was probably within earshot, although she couldn't see him anywhere right now so it was possible that he had disappeared again, as he occasionally did. "Today, I'm going to remain in the house. Having something to eat, reading a book or two, and just thinking things over. But after that?"

She smiled, the memory of her best friends for once not causing any pain or confusion but the simple optimism with which they had always inspired her.

"I know what I'm going to do this week."

_FERB_

Ferb Fletcher was overthinking things again that morning.

It was a habit of his that he'd had for as long as he could remember. And although it hadn't kept him from inventing on his brother's side – since those were never the things he overthought – it had helped cement his reputation for silence. People didn't like it when you contemplated their question for minutes before answering them, apparently.

Overthinking was perhaps unnecessary most times – infeasible even, given the pace of the things that happened in and around their house. But that was before there had been something to overthink.

And Ferb figured that almost anyone would share the kiss he had shared with Isabella Garcia-Shapiro under that category.

An act that, at the time, had not been overthought at all.

Ferb still didn't quite get why he had done the things he had done last night. Confessing his innermost feelings to Isabella. Kissing her. Punching his brother. Regardless of what Phineas would have done, Ferb would normally have expected himself to be the one protecting his innocent sibling, not bringing him bodily harm. But he had been so _mad_, so offended on Isabella's behalf, that he had continued to be unforgiving of his brother's innocently insensitive behavior even as Isabella's emerging guilt complex sought to acquit him. That even as Isabella got over her crush and acknowledged its issues, he had tried to justify her actions despite having known for some time that they were deeply flawed.

Love made you do crazy things, it seemed.

Love. More and more, Ferb had become convinced that that was indeed what he felt for Isabella. It was… different from his crush on Vanessa, if only for the fact that he'd known Isabella for ten years. But he was not as oblivious as his brother had been, and the difference between Vanessa and Isabella would not leave him hiding in denial either. He knew how he felt. He knew what it had meant that he had gotten so invested in the wellbeing of the girl across the street. At the very least, he had developed a strong crush – more likely, he was falling in love. In love with a girl who had – against all the odds – actually kissed him back last night.

If anyone had told him only three months ago that he would end up kissing Isabella, he would have considered the thought downright insane. Even as little as a week, heck, a _day_ ago he would have dismissed the thought out of hand. Isabella was in love with Phineas, with whom she'd eventually get together. Even Phineas' weird crush on their sister didn't change anything about that, because it was only a crush, Candace would never accept it, and Isabella's persistence and general appeal would be sure to lead Phineas into her arms some day. She certainly wouldn't be lead into _his_, not when half the time Ferb wasn't sure whether she knew he existed.

But the thing about people was that they could surprise you, even if in hindsight the motivations for their actions were easily deducible from their personalities. Phineas' determination and Candace's fondness of him had blossomed into a passionate romance which, as Ferb found himself believing right now, could actually stand the tests of time. And the ensuing rejection and the way they had bonded by spending time together had made Isabella kiss him last night.

It would be so easy to dismiss that kiss as one impulsive action, especially since he had been the one to initiate it anyway. Isabella couldn't love him, not even if his brother was out as an alternative for… the foreseeable future. But Ferb wasn't blind to the way Isabella had been hurt, not just by Phineas breaking her heart but also because he had withheld the truth from her for so long, because she genuinely, independently _cared_ about him and about what he thought of her. And she had accepted his impulsive offer for that restaurant date next week, too.

Isabella cared. She had to care. There was… something there between them. But whereas with other people Ferb could easily tell the intricacies of their feelings, he was drawing a blank when it came to himself and to her.

They were in uncharted waters. Ferb Fletcher had a date with the girl who had crushed on his brother for as long as he could remember, and he literally had no idea where it was going to go. So maybe he should do the same thing Phineas did, and not overthink things at all.

His brother had gotten up before him that morning, as usual, but unlike so often he had not greeted Ferb with the customary pillow. When the British boy finally turned his head to face his brother's bed he saw the room was empty. It was past 8 in the morning, but there were no sounds coming from the backyard yet. Which meant that Phineas would likely still be at the breakfast table.

Ferb got out of bed, got dressed, and headed down the stairs. As he passed his sister's room, he shot a glance in that direction and noticed that the door was still shut. He briefly wondered whether Phineas had joined her for another sleepover. Romantic intimacy would certainly explain why Phineas had been absent when he woke up, and why he hadn't been woken up to come to the backyard yet, even though it was one of those precious weekend days in which the most had to be made before school started again on Monday.

Romantic intimacy. Between his _brother_ and his _sister_ – between Phineas, who had barely seemed to know the meaning of the words sometimes, and Candace, who had been obsessed about Jeremy and about getting them in trouble, and who had long seemed to regard them as being just little kids.

Even now, after six weeks, Ferb still found himself shaking his head in the confusion he felt at the very idea that those two might be doing anything romantic together. But it had happened, it was here, and he also knew that it wasn't going anywhere. Phineas and Candace's relationship was clearly here to stay.

He got down the stairs and saw his brother at the breakfast table, writing in their sketchbook. Phineas looked up at him and greeted him with a broad grin. "Hey, Ferb!" he exclaimed. "I figured you might like to sleep in today, and to be honest I didn't want to get off bed right away either when the alarm clock went off. Weird, right?" He chuckled. "It's not like yesterday was such a busy day, what with everything being concentrated in the evening, and yet it feels like it was more intense than the day we went around the world. Emotions really can do a number on you. Anyway, I've already gotten to work on drawing the blueprints for today's project, so we can get started right after you finish breakfast." He paused, the broad grin on his face mellowing for a brief moment. "Did you happen to see whether Candace was awake yet when you went by her room?"

It was a very long barrage of words, and Ferb couldn't help but smile. His brother seemed to need these things sometimes, particularly in the morning – and he had to admit that it was heartening to be on friendly terms with him again, last night's argument forgotten as if it had never happened (even though he could still see the bruise his punch had left on his brother's cheek). Responding to the question, he shook his head.

Phineas looked unperturbed by that news, as he would. "It must have been a long day for her too yesterday" he speculated. "Especially as she went out with Jeremy, and I know now that that's something she always worried about." He shook his head. "It's strange, you know? Candace is my girlfriend again – she's in _love_ with me, Ferb! – and it makes me so happy inside, but there are all those issues that even until last night I didn't fully realize she had. And now I'm going to have to help her deal with them, and with many of them, I don't know where to start. I try my best, of course, and I think it helped last night, but Candace worries so _much_. And then there's that whole thing with busting too, and I know that's tied up in it now."

Ferb sat down opposite his brother with a bowl of cereal, and as Phineas looked into his eyes he grinned again. "But now you're here! And, well, you're not Candace's boyfriend and I am," there was a smile on Phineas' face that was even broader than it usually was, which was saying something, "but that doesn't mean you can't help me nevertheless. If you want to, of course."

The green-haired boy looked at his brother, who was confused at the way he was being stared at. It was almost comfortingly familiar to see Phineas be oblivious – although his brother was usually the best at reading his facial expression, that didn't mean he always understood just what he was reading. "You mean, no?" the redhead guessed. "You… want me to help Candace on my own?" Ferb blinked affirmatively. "I mean, I could, if that's what you want me to do – but I'm sure Candace wouldn't mind if you…" He paused. "Well, I suppose she _might_ mind, after all. She is in love with _me_, and not with you, and she won't always want you to be involved in things she shares with me. Huh. Maybe I should want to solve these issues on my own, then – because that's how it's going to be for the rest of my life. For our lives. Candace and I will help each other out, as boyfriend and girlfriend, just the two of us."

Ferb blinked again to confirm his brother's words, and then pointed to the other side of the street – first by tilting his head in that direction, and then, when it became clear that Phineas hadn't understood that, he physically stretched out his arm. "Oh, right, that whole… thing with Isabella last night" Phineas remembered. He grinned. "Good for you, bro. Yeah, I guess you're going to have to spend a lot of time on that now? Romance for the both of us." He smiled sheepishly. "Still, that doesn't mean we can't ask for any advice from each other, right? The fact that I'm Candace's boyfriend, and that you want to be Isabella's boyfriend doesn't mean that we're going to have the answers to all of our girlfriends' problems – or the other way around, for that matter. We're not perfect, you know."

That point was fair enough, and Ferb nodded just in time to see Phineas get a relieved smile on his face before their conversation was disrupted by their sister walking into the room. Candace still looked tired as she glanced around the breakfast table, but the moment she spotted Phineas there was a slight smile on her face, a smile of fondness that had never quite been on there before the last couple of weeks, but one which clearly indicated a deeply-held infatuation. There was no doubt, then, that for better or for worse, his siblings were in love with each other.

"Morning, Candace!" Phineas greeted her cheerfully. "How are you, sis?"

"I've woken up in worse moods" Candace admitted, taking a bowl of cereal and sitting down. "You, though, seem to be even bouncier than you normally are."

"I guess I am, yeah" her brother replied. "Still, you've got to admit that there's plenty of reason for me to be happy." He grinned at her. "Yesterday was… mixed, but Isabella knows our secret now and she's no longer mad at me, and she got all those things she thought off her chest and that's good, too. And now, we're dating again, it's a beautiful morning and I had this really great idea earlier that we could all partake in. You know how we've done car races and stuff like that plenty of times?" Candace nodded. "Well, how about an _animal_ race? You know, like they have at the race track – only cooler, because we'd be building _mechanical_ animals. That way, we can go much faster – over a track around the whole state, perhaps? Or maybe just the Tri-State Area, no need to go overboard." He chuckled. "It could be me and you versus Ferb and Isabella – what do you say?"

"Didn't you say that you had agreed last night that Isabella should take some time off?" Candace replied before Ferb could. "And as for me… well, I think the whole 'not busting' thing is going to be hard enough on its own without me joining up with you. Yesterday was pretty stressful, you know."

"Oh, I know" Phineas said, smiling. "I'd forgotten all about that deal with Isabella, but that's true. I mean, sometimes people just need some time off – and I guess that bumping into us would make it all awkward? Since she doesn't like seeing us together, obviously." Ferb's lips curled slightly at his brother's understatement. "But as for you – well, I've always found that there's nothing more relaxing than just making the best of every day. And if Isabella wouldn't be there – well, you don't have anything against Ferb, do you? I know he punched me, but that's okay."

Candace briefly gave Ferb a smile as they both reflected on their brother's… unique character, but the moment Phineas raised his bruise shattered it. Ferb felt embarrassment color his face, while Candace was carefully not looking at him. The quiet sibling suddenly wondered whether Phineas' questions were more justified than he had assumed them to be. Their sister might have been abrasive and harsh from time to time, and she had done a _lot_ of things that she wasn't proud of, but she had never gone as far as he had by punching Phineas. And she was fiercely protective of him, too, something he remembered clearly from the first days of him living in America and that would only have heightened now they had fallen in love.

But it turned out that he didn't need to worry. Candace shook his head. "If Ferb has apologized to you, and you've accepted it, that means enough to me" she replied. "I mean, it is Ferb. He couldn't really have meant to hurt you, right?" Ferb gave her a brief nod. "He lost his temper… and I know what that's like. But he'd better not do it again." The expression on her face firmed up as she stared at her green-haired brother. Their eyes met, and Candace shot him a glare so fierce that even Ferb, who considered himself unbothered by most things (well, that was the way he _used_ to perceive himself, at least) shrank back a little. "And I'm sure I can count on that."

"All right!" Phineas exclaimed, before blushing because even he realized that that attitude was a bit too overenthusiastic. "I know we've been having a lot of issues over the past couple of weeks. It's… taken its toll on me too, and, well, I can try to hide it in order to be my cheerful and optimistic self, but spending time at odds with you – with either of you – did hurt." He sighed. "But I don't blame you, and I can't spend all my time blaming myself either. And if you guys can do the same, forgive yourself and each other, then I'm sure we'll be able to make something great out of this. We do all love each other, after all."

"We do" Candace confirmed, smiling teasingly at him. "Although I don't think you would be happy if my feelings for Ferb ran _quite_ as deep as those I have for you."

"Well, when I first realized that I was in love with you, I was thinking we could pursue that together" Phineas replied. "Ferb and I, I mean. But I soon realized that that wasn't what Ferb wanted – and not to be selfish, but it's not what I want either. You're my girlfriend, and whenever we go out, I want it to be just the two of us." He gave his stepbrother a sly grin, and Ferb realized what was coming. "Besides, it's not like Ferb will get lonely. Did I tell you last night about him and Isabella?"

Candace frowned. "I think you said something about that, yes?" she replied. "But I was pretty tired last night – as I still am now, to be honest – so I didn't quite catch everything you were rambling about. Because you _were_ rambling, bro." She reached out to ruffle Phineas' hair, and their brother's infectious laughter filled the room.

"Yeah, I guess I was" Phineas admitted. "And I probably was just now, too – still, you can't blame me for being excited about this. It feels like we've finally turned a corner in our relationship. Or, well, restarted it, since it wasn't really _there_ for the past couple of weeks, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do" Candace said. "It's still weird, you know? The fact that I'm in love with my dorky, annoying little brother. But it's not going to go away. And I want you to be there in my life, because I believe and I know that you're making it better. That I need you." For the second time in a row, Phineas' face colored red, and even as Ferb felt slightly uneasy at his siblings' display of non-sibling affection (although he knew he should probably get used to that) he couldn't help but be amused by his brother. "As for Ferb…" She was smiling, but as she turned towards him Ferb could see awkwardness on his sister's face that was not solely attributable to the fact that his relationship with Candace had, over the past couple of weeks, become even more different than the one Phineas had with his sister than it had always been. "You… and Isabella? Didn't you always use to have a crush on Vanessa?"

"I did" Ferb acknowledged. "But she turned me down a few weeks ago. And when Isabella asked me for help, feelings started to blossom."

"You know, if it wasn't for the whole secrecy thing, you and Isabella and Candace and I could probably do one of those double dates sometimes?" Phineas mused. "Although I guess that Isabella isn't quite ready for that yet."

That was probably the understatement of the year… not that Phineas didn't have a gift for making those, of course. Isabella wasn't likely to be ready for anything so soon, much less with him, not after everything that had happened between her and Phineas…

…but she had reached out towards him. And she had kissed him back – the touch of her lips against hers still thrilled him when he thought about it, because it was something that he had never gotten to experience with his previous crush (Vanessa had kissed him on the cheek once, but that had been about it) and it had allowed him to relate to the enthusiasm Phineas had displayed a few weeks ago about his first kiss with Candace a little better. Isabella had made him feel like that, had returned his kiss, initiated that second kiss… and she had agreed to him asking her out.

So maybe the problem wasn't so much that she wasn't ready yet – maybe the problem was that _he_ wasn't.

Ferb sighed inwardly. That would be just great, wouldn't it? It was that same tendency to overthink things, to cautiously stay in the background. A tendency that shouldn't be cropping up now, not after he had flirted with his previous crush so casually a few years ago – not after he had managed to flirt with Isabella fairly easily too. He enjoyed those things, but he had failed at long-term prospects and serious relationships. That time on the Eiffel Tower still came to mind. And maybe here, he would fail too. Because flirtations or not, the thought of dating Isabella was something he still wasn't quite ready for.

His brother cut through those thoughts again, as Phineas usually did, and his relaxed attitude made Ferb feel more at ease with himself – which, again, was something that Phineas usually managed to pull off, regardless of whether he was actually aware of the fact. "Come on, Ferb" he said. "We're wasting sunlight. There are plenty of fun things that we can do outside – do you still have our sketchbook?" His brother nodded. "Excellent. Then I'm sure we'll be able to find lots of cool ideas so that we can save the animal racing stuff for later. Will you be all right here by yourself, Candace?"

Their sister smiled fondly at him. "Of course I will. You guys…" She hesitated. "Go and have fun, I guess? Man, this is weird. Take care of yourselves."

"Of course" Phineas replied casually. "Ferb, get the blueprints! The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's time for _action_!"

Smiling faintly, Ferb nodded and set off to fulfill Phineas' instructions. His brother was right, after all. There were plenty of things to do. And although he might, by himself, be perfectly fine with sitting in a corner with a book or just redoing one of the projects they had built over the past couple of weeks. But not Phineas. Oh, no. His brother might not be _opposed_ to repetition, but his creative mind provided him with so many opportunities to build a project that he really wouldn't need it. Nor, in fact, did he need it today.

Because even just one day after all the dramatic things that had gone down, even with the absence of Isabella, Candace or even Buford and Baljeet, Phineas managed to make it the best day ever.

It was… strange how all that transpired. As if the potential negative consequences of his actions simply didn't stick to Phineas, and he managed to pull the people around him up from the dumpster they otherwise would have ended up in. Because he saw opportunities where others would only see threats and difficulties, and because he maintained hope even when others would despair. And even after everything he had done wrong yesterday, Phineas had managed to rally himself and delivered the best today.

He and his brother were so different. If Ferb had had the same feelings for Candace that Phineas had, he would not have shied away from them, but he would certainly have acknowledged that nothing would ever come of it. (Well, if he had been in Phineas' _exact _situation, of course. The fact that he wasn't biologically related to either Phineas or Candace would probably have given him some leeway in pursuing such a relationship, but none of that was relevant for this hypothetical scenario anyway.) Whereas Phineas had not even seen the possible pitfalls of asking his sister for a romantic relationship at first, and when Ferb had impressed those very things on him, Phineas had been unable to ignore those feelings, and he had eventually (albeit inadvertently) confessed, and then actually won Candace over.

It would be so easy to dismiss his brother as being hopelessly naive at romance, a conclusion that even Ferb himself had not always shied away from (not that it had been very relevant given Phineas' total lack of interest in the subject). But Phineas had proven himself to be much more capable than anyone would think, not even despite but because of that optimism and self-confidence and sense of initiative. He had not engaged in casual flirtation - he had openly approached his crush, and he had a girlfriend now.

So maybe what Phineas had been saying earlier that day about them sharing advice had held some truth after all - with the exception that it would be _Phineas _advising _Ferb_.

Of course, the idea of trying to emulate his brother wasn't perfect. Not just because it made him uneasy, but also because Ferb knew he could never pretend to be a chatterbox or open about his feelings for long - and Isabella would see right through it anyway. She might not have always paid too much attention, but she would know enough of what he was like that that wouldn't work. Still, asking Phineas for his thoughts and giving him an honest chance to give out advice wasn't a bad idea. It was, if anything, a good start.

Their project of the day was just winding to an end when Ferb turned his head towards his brother and kept his gaze focused on the other boy for a while. He had carefully picked his moment, when most of their work was already done and all they needed to do was wait for the Mysterious Force – or whatever underlings it might seek to disperse – to clean up the last remnants of their work. Although Ferb had wondered whether the fact that Candace had stopped busting them might affect the actions of the Force, the holographic ultraprojector was still carried up by a swarm of bees and dragged off into places unknown right on schedule. Apparently, it would take more than that to disrupt the status quo in their backyard.

But where Ferb was perfectly fine with the maintenance of one kind of status quo, he couldn't quite bear to have the other one persist, and thus he kept staring at Phineas until his brother noticed that something was up. "What is it, Ferb?" he asked. "You know, it really is too bad that the project is gone already – I mean, it wasn't the coolest thing we ever did, but it was cool, and we could have shown Candace now that she's, you know, not against it anymore." He awkwardly waved his hand around. "But there'll be another day for that, and I guess that accepting that Candace is different and has different things she wants for whatever reason I can't understand is a key step in a relationship. I wonder…" He stared at his stepbrother, a sudden frown on his face. "Wait, that's not what you wanted to talk to me about, is it?"

It indeed was not. Ferb cleared his throat and pointed in the direction of the house across the street. "I was wondering whether you could help me figure out how to explore a relationship with Isabella."

There, it was out, in spoken form no less. He desired a relationship with Isabella. That was something that he'd never actually _said_ before, if only because it was such an impossible dream, but now he had admitted to it in front of his brother, who… wasn't the best at keeping such things a secret from the ones Ferb wasn't yet prepared to tell anything. Thankfully, he didn't have the chance to wallow too much on that thought before Phineas frowned. "Of course?" he said. "I mean, I'd love to help you – but I'm not sure if I can? I… well, as you know, I never thought about Isabella in a romantic way. So I don't think I have any concrete advice to offer, and, well, you're a natural at this romance stuff. What could I possibly say that you haven't come up with already?"

In response, Ferb pointed up towards their sister's bedroom, and Phineas only took a brief moment to grasp what he was referring to. "You mean, Candace? Me and Candace – the fact that we're together?" Ferb nodded. "Well, I guess that I did get _a_ girlfriend before you, but honestly, I can't see how that helps you. Candace is… well, she's not Isabella. I love her, and I'd explain to you why, but we've already established that you don't share my feelings, so that would be pretty pointless." He chuckled. "I told you how Candace and I got together. I just… well, I didn't really do anything. Just confessed my feelings, listened to her, and asked her whether she could have feelings for me too. And she could. And she does."

Phineas grinned his classic silly grin again, one that Ferb had become more and more used to over the last couple of weeks and which would invariably lead to a far-away dreamy smile emerging on his brother's face. He hastily cleared his throat, and Phineas snapped out of his reverie. "But, well, that would work? I guess? But you and Isabella already kissed, so it's different in that regard. You know she has to have some feelings for you."

Ferb shrugged, having made the same analysis but not being entirely sure he could go along with his brother, who subsequently grinned. "Trust me, Ferb. I may not know as much as Isabella as I used to think I did, and certainly not about her views on romance, but she's not an entirely different person from the person I used to know. The Isabella I know wouldn't just randomly walk around and kiss people if she didn't care for them. She would want this to be special, and now that it's happened, I think she's going to see it as something special."

That… was probably true, yes, although it was far from enough to soothe the green-haired boy's concerns. He gave Phineas a sheepish smile, indicating that it wasn't quite enough, and then pointed towards their sister's bedroom window and then towards himself. Fortunately, Phineas got his intended meaning right away. "Well, even if _you_ had been the one to ask _me_ for help with a crush on Candace, I would have assumed that you would know best" he said. "That's who you are, bro. You're suave and charming and all those things that I really am not, and you know much more than I ever could. Ferb, I get that you're questioning things. I did, too, when I started crushing on Candace. All these things that I thought I knew, that I was confident about – and suddenly it was like they were looming obstacles in a way that they never quite had been. Maybe that's something unique to the two of us, but I would guess that's just a part of love. You start really seeing something from the other person's perspective – not that we didn't do that before, of course, but that idea of wanting to go out with her _really_ makes you think, you know? Candace… she has different thoughts about stuff than I do. And if this thing is going to be perfect, it has to be perfect for her too. And I need to understand her to be able to make it that way."

He cleared his throat, a slight blush on his cheek from the knowledge that he was getting carried away. "My point is that you shouldn't overthink these things. I know you do that sometimes, bro. You know Isabella. You've always been there, and maybe her attention was more on me than on you, but you're still her friend, and she cares about you. Right?" Ferb halfheartedly nodded, and Phineas grinned. "That's what I thought. You can do this, Ferb. Because, you see…"

He took a few steps back and forth before staring at Ferb, looking slightly more serious now. "Isabella is…" he continued, and then he cut himself off. "Well, I always thought that she was just my friend and that she wanted to spend time with me because we were such great friends. And then it turned out that she had a crush on me, and that she'd been trying to get me to become her boyfriend for ten years – but she's still my friend. I may know now that a lot of things that I… suppose I could have seen as romantic, had I been looking, were attempts by her to win me over. Maybe even lots of things that I wouldn't have seen as romantic, ever. But even in spite of all that, there were still a lot of friendship moments. When she wasn't acting on a crush, but when she was just… hanging out with us. Being friends. Right?"

Ferb nodded, and he could see some relief emerge on his brother's face. "All right. So that means that Isabella could be those two people, as it were, both that great friend and a girl who crushed on me, and it means that even though you only ever knew her as that girl who was only interested in me, there _is_ more to her. There can be more to her, a part of Isabella that we simply never saw. Not even you, Ferb. That side of Isabella kissed you last Saturday. And trust me, bro, that girl wants to go out with you. I fully believe that."

There was silence after that, with Phineas having said all he wanted to say and Ferb once again being left to mull over everything. Phineas was right, he realized. There was a chance – maybe a small chance, but still a chance – that the girl from across the street would want to explore a full-fledged relationship with him. And that in order to make that a reality, all he had to do would be to approach her as the girl that he had gotten to know. To stop worrying about how to flirt with a hypothetical crush as if she was someone whom he was meeting for the first time and she required some kind of textbook approach. Because he wasn't, and she didn't. She was Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, the girl from across the street, the head of Fireside Girl group 46231, and the girl he was infatuated with.

He was doing this, he decided that night. He was going to try to pursue a relationship with Isabella - and if he would, he would have to be serious at convincing her that he was someone she wanted, too. There would be no more winks and teasing asides to catch her off-guard, no souped-up invention of the day driving past, rocking her world before dropping her off again before anything got too serious. No, this time Ferb would get serious. Isabella at least appreciated him, and she had kissed him. She deserved more from him than that.

It was a new adventure. A new type of relationship. But Ferb had pulled off the impossible enough that he knew that he _could _make this work. After all, it was only next Saturday.

He had a whole week left to go, and he would make the most of it.


	2. Monday (Vivian and Candace)

**Author's Note: **_Second day, second chapter. In which Isabella and Ferb learn - in the latter case, from the unlikeliest of sources - that maybe things aren't as dramatic as they look.  
_

**DAY TWO**

_ISABELLA_

The first chance that Isabella got to put her resolution into practice came the very next day, when her mother's holiday weekend came to an end. The fact that her mother was returning home once more put into context how different the past couple of days had been from what she had been expecting beforehand. How could she begin to tell her mother that the date with Phineas had fallen through, and that she wanted advice about _Ferb_ now? If not for the fact that they were next door neighbors and Isabella wasn't her mother's only source of information, the girl figured that her mother wouldn't have even known that Phineas' brother existed.

In other situations, that might have been a good thing. Ferb would be a blank slate, and they could just talk about him and the concept of boys in general. He would be a… non-complex alternative to Phineas, because he would be 'just a boy'. But although Ferb was so much of a blank slate to her and to pretty much anyone aside from his own immediate family (presumably) he was _also_ someone who had always been there. Someone whom she had interacted with, someone who had always been at Phineas' side. Isabella couldn't just present him to her mother as a new person, as an outside factor that had never been part of her calculations, because if she _would_ feel an interest in Ferb, shouldn't she have noticed him a long time ago? And she hadn't. Not to mention the fact that Ferb was many things, but he _certainly_ wasn't non-complex.

Isabella sighed as she stood in front of the window, looking at her mother's car pulling up. Unease gathered in her stomach. This… it had always been so _easy_ with Phineas. Sure, she had never really accomplished anything, but there had been no risks. She had known what she had. She had a friend who would be kind to her and who would frustratingly miss all hints she threw at him. That was… kind of their thing, by now. Their endless ritual of failure, like Candace's attempts to bust her brothers. It was only now, when it was all over, that Isabella wondered whether she'd ever really wanted to succeed and look for what life beyond that endlessly frustrating and yet almost comforting ritual might bring.

That was a bizarre thought to consider, and it also wasn't relevant. Because even without success, she could never go back to Phineas' house and flirt with him as if nothing had happened. Her last chance for that had died the moment she saw him…

…no. That wasn't technically true. Her last chance had died the moment she barged into the house and yelled at him and his sister. Because if she hadn't done so, if she had just kept her mouth shut and shut the door again before Phineas and Candace would have known she was there, she could have lived a life of denial. She could have continued to flirt and relishing in the comfort of the fact that no one could prove that she knew, hopefully spiting Candace, and discomforting Phineas and…

…that wasn't good either, was it. It was like that stalking, except with her being _conscious_ of what she was doing. It wouldn't just be born out of comfort, it would be born out of a desire for _revenge_. So that was not good, and it wasn't what she wanted either. Isabella sighed again and shook her head. It was time to face the truth.

She walked towards the door, keeping one eye focused on the house across the street so that she could back down if someone were to come out. After all, there was no one there she particularly wanted to see right now. Her mother rang the doorbell and smiled broadly as she opened up and let her in. "It is so good to see you again, Isabella," she said cheerfully. "My, how you have grown."

Isabella rolled her eyes, her mother's sense of humor penetrating through her sullenness even if it was only for a brief moment. "You just saw me last Friday, mama."

"That just goes to show how fast you're growing up," her mother teased back, carrying her bags inside the house. "How have things gone here in my absence?"

The girl took a deep breath, and before she could think of something concealing to say she noticed her mother come to a halt as she saw the look on her daughter's face. There was no way to hide this. "Something… happened" she replied. "I wanted to talk to you about it, but… can we wait until dinner? Please? It's pretty big, and I want us to be able to sit down because although it's not urgent it's still important. To me."

Her mother stepped closer towards her. "Is it something about Pinky?"

Isabella shook her head.

"About Phineas, then?"

She nodded. Vivian Garcia-Shapiro stared at her and slowly shook her head, compassion visible on her face. "Oh, Isabella mija…" She took another step and embraced her daughter.

This... was entirely too easy. This wasn't how Isabella had expected things to go. They were talking about _Phineas_, after all – how was it possible that her mother would instantly grasp that he had rejected her? It had been quite clear that Isabella hadn't been talking about their normal pattern of Phineas being blind to her flirtations. Those were saddening, but they weren't 'pretty big', they didn't stand out, and her mother would know that they wouldn't be what Isabella would want to talk about.

Her mother… couldn't know the whole story, could she? No, that was impossible. Even though Ferb _had_ known, it had been clear enough that she wasn't the only one to whom Phineas'… thing with his sister had come as a surprise. So if her mother didn't know _that_, how could she possibly realize so quickly what had happened between her and her crush? That Phineas, her soulmate, her future husband, had so unexpectedly turned out to be none of those things?

Isabella didn't know, and she didn't know what to say in response either. But that didn't matter right now – what mattered more were the loving arms around her. She needed those arms right now. It wasn't Ferb, of course, and after having that talk at the pool and two good nights' sleeps she was hardly throwing herself at her mother like she was her last lifeline, but she still missed comfort and contact.

She had missed her mother, who had always been there for her, especially now that this situation made her feel like a little girl again because she had been proven to have so small a grasp of the things that were truly going on around her, because her whole world had been turned upside down. She would like to have her father here too, but he was still away at work and by the time he was back she would hopefully be feeling well enough not to need that comfort anymore. But just two days ago, she had only had Ferb for that… not that Ferb hadn't sufficed, of course. Ferb's hug had been so different – also comforting, warm, but it was a comfort of equals, of different affection, of…

…she was going to stop thinking about this now. She should save it for the dinner table. Man, dealing with issues was _hard_ when your solution was also part of the problem.

The time until dinner was mostly passed helping her mother unpack, chattering about minor details of her trip, and, aside from that, doing nothing. It was so strange. The past few days of inactivity had been strange in themselves. Ordinarily, Isabella would just have hung out with Phineas and Ferb today – now, she had only seen them at school and focused entirely on her homework instead. 'Her' boys had been there, in the same room with her, but she had carefully maintained her distance even as Phineas shot her an awkward smile and Ferb gave her one of his looks that were indeterminable but made her feel as if he could see right through her. They didn't interact all day, and thus, the day was… normal. Far too normal.

Granted, 'not spending time with Phineas and Ferb' wasn't too strange. School was busy like that, after all, and it wasn't like Isabella was – had been _that_ obsessed with Phineas. But the fact that she hadn't even spoken to her best friends at all in the past two days was definitely unnerving, especially after getting her hopes up so much in the past couple of weeks. It had been such an intense period, and now there was just nothing left. Shattered dreams… and possible new hopes.

"All right, Isabella," her mother finally told her at dinner, "we have to talk. Whatever happened between you and Phineas clearly upset you." She smiled kindly at the girl. "He is young, and boys mature slower than girls, as I have often told you. Whatever happened, there might yet be a chance…"

"No," Isabella replied, cutting her mother off before she could go on. At least this was more familiar ground. It was this kind of talk that she was sort of expecting to hear in the next couple of days, but which she also couldn't _bear_ to hear, especially not from her mother. "There is no chance. He… he told me so. Phineas found out about my feelings for him, and then told me that he wasn't attracted to me."

Vivian stared at her for a few moments, before shifting her seat closer and wrapping an arm around her daughter. "I am so sorry to hear that, my dear" she said. "I know how much you adored him, and I realize how much this must hurt. Don't hold back. Don't bottle up your feelings. Just let it out. I'll listen."

Isabella sighed, wondering what do with her mother's offer. She _wanted_ to cry over losing Phineas, but after that initial blur of emotions she found that even being back in her mother's arms didn't get the tears flowing again. Maybe enough had already flowed? No, that was unlikely. Losing Phineas was going to haunt her beneath the surface for a long time, even if she and Ferb… if Ferb would…

"Ferb kissed me," she whispered.

They were such simple words, and she wasn't even sure whether her mother had heard her at first – but it felt so good to get them out nevertheless, even though she would never not sound strange saying it.

She felt her mother's grip on her loosen, and a blank stare was directed towards her. "What?"

"Ferb," Isabella repeated, so softly that her mother was probably forced to read her lips in order to understand her. "Phineas' brother. He kissed me on Saturday night."

Her mother blinked, looking just as confused as Isabella had expected her and just about anyone else to look. "And… this is why Phineas doesn't want to be with you?" she asked tentatively.

That misinterpretation of the situation was almost comical, but Isabella could see where her mother was coming from. It wasn't like the real answer would make sense to her anyway, or indeed to anyone. She smiled and shook her head. "No, Ferb did – it happened after Phineas had given me his news. Ferb was consoling me, and then… then he kissed me. And I kissed him back." She let go of her mother, staring down to the ground without facing her as the words started tumbling out of her mouth. "I kissed him back and I don't even know why I did that because he's Ferb, and I've never been in love with him but we have gotten so much closer over the past couple of weeks, and now I don't know what to do because he asked me out for next Saturday and it's just so soon after Phineas, not that I blame him for asking me because he was confused too and must have wanted some clarity, but he was still Ferb." She took a deep breath, struggling to explain. "He was… he was _Ferb_."

Isabella had been terrified of the torrent of questions that her confession would unleash. Instead, her mother simply nodded and drew her closer again, in such an easy way that almost made her wonder whether this was something that people _had_ seen coming, somehow – but no, that couldn't be it. The way her mother had reacted earlier had made that quite clear.

"You loved Phineas, Isabella," she said softly. "Losing him has hurt you. It still hurts you, and it is going to keep hurting for a long time. But that is okay. You don't _need_ to move on right away, no matter what Ferb tells you."

The concept of Ferb telling her to do that was so bizarre that Isabella couldn't help but smile a little. (Granted, all of this was bizarre, and she couldn't blame her mother for jumping to her daughter's defense and protecting her from outside forces, even when those outside forces wouldn't ordinarily be a threat.) Ferb _was_ a gentleman, after all. Enigmatic, but patient. She knew that if she went up to the Flynn-Fletchers and asked him to withdraw his invitation for that dinner date, he would do it.

It would have been easy to blame Ferb for the predicament she was currently in. But after the experience she had just gone through Isabella didn't want to assign guilt so easily again, and she knew in her heart that that wasn't fair. After all, Ferb had also had a lot of emotional stuff to deal with over the past couple of days. She had kissed him back, she had accepted his invitation, an invitation he had only made because of the confusion that _she_ had allowed to be created between them. And for better or for worse, she still wanted to go out with him on Saturday night.

"I'm not moving on," she told her mother. "I… couldn't. But Ferb…" How could she explain this? How? "Ferb and I have become close," she finally settled on. "He only asked me out because he wants what's best for me – for both of us. And I accepted it. I still do." She sighed. "I just don't know how to cope with it. I… I may have gotten closer to Ferb, but Phineas… he…" She sighed. "I never thought past Phineas."

"You never had to" her mother replied, gently patting her back. "You don't need to blame yourself for what happened, Isabella. If Phineas doesn't want to be with you, that is not because of any shortcoming on your behalf – I know that to be true." It even _was_ true, provided that you excluded such unusual shortcomings as 'not being his _blood relative_'. "And it is good that Ferb cares about you. But what you need to know, if you truly do want to go out with him soon, is whether you care about him too. You don't need to love him, not right away – you just need to be able to see enough to go on a date together." She sighed. "What I am worried about is that you – you and Ferb – feel like you have to force yourself to do this now. I'm sure Ferb means well, but even if he is not forcing you or pressuring you he still asked you whether you wanted to go out with him in a week's time. And if that is not something you are ready for because of your grief, you _can_ tell him no."

Well, that was clear enough. Isabella knew perfectly well that she could tell Ferb no, and even if she wasn't in love with Ferb, that statement didn't tell the whole story of how she felt. "But I know enough," she whispered. "I do know that I care about him. I have feelings that – that I guess are romantic, for Ferb." Another thing said out loud. Another headshake at what should have been impossible. "But I… I can't tell for sure how far they reach, and how I'm supposed to approach this. I always only thought about Phineas, and now… I _want_ this right now, but I also _don't_ want it, if you know what I mean."

"You don't feel ready" her mother said softly. "Not for such a big change. You… know Ferb, but you're not sure whether you know him well enough? So that you can anticipate how he will react to the things you might do if the two of you go out?" Relieved at her mother's ability to cover a great amount of the things she had been concerned about, Isabella nodded. "Isabella, you know that you don't have anything to worry about, don't you? Ferb is in the same position you are in right now. He is a sweet boy, even if he doesn't talk much. He might be quite clever – his mother has often told me that – but he is not so different compared to the rest of you."

Isabella sighed. "I know, Mom" she said. "But… you know? It's still different. And even if it wasn't, it would feel different, and it would still be hard for me."

Vivian nodded, giving her daughter a kind smile. "You are still upset about what happened, aren't you?" she observed. "Isabella, if you want to move on right away, you need to let it go – and if you can't, you shouldn't be moving on right away." She shook her head. "Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault, you know."

The girl looked up at her mother, feeling slightly bewildered. She wasn't moving on, after all – she was merely grasping onto the straw that she had been granted by Ferb's invitation. (Okay, that sounded kind of desperate, but Isabella knew that she had some kind of… feelings… that there had been a _reason_ for her to accept aside from hiding from pain.)

The other idea, though, was even more confusing. Because unlike what her mother knew, there _was_ something to blame herself for, and the idea of acquitting herself… well, she wasn't going to let the things she had done wrong stop her, any more than she was going to let the whole Candace thing come between her and her friendship with Phineas, but it was still a fact. She had stalked Phineas. She had pushed him time and time again in a direction that she now knew he didn't want. She told her mother as much, who in turn just stared at her, confusion in her eyes.

"Isabella…" she said, softly, pulling her daughter closer. "Are you truly beating yourself up over this? You shouldn't do that. You never intended to harm Phineas, and you're just a girl. You are holding yourself to adult standards, and you don't _need_ to do that." She shook her head. "I have always encouraged you to follow your dreams, remember? Both with the Fireside Girls and with Phineas. You didn't do anything _wrong_, honey. If your father was here, he would tell you the same thing. Don't make yourself feel miserable about something you couldn't change."

Isabella sniffled. "I-I'm not making myself miserable" she replied, shaking her head. "I feel bad about it, but after… after I spoke to Phineas, and to Ferb, I don't feel _heartbroken_ about it anymore. But it _is_ what I did, and I can't get away from it. I stalked Phineas, Mom. I… that night, I pushed for him to kiss me when he didn't want to."

Vivian frowned. "Did you ask Phineas to kiss you and told him that he couldn't refuse?" she said, her tone of voice soft and gentle.

Her daughter snorted. "Well, no," she replied. "It wasn't like _that_. But that doesn't mean that I did anything good there. We were sitting together, and all I could focus on was that we were on a date and how close I was to getting to kiss him, so I tried to arrange it through spaghetti and it never happened, and… well, Phineas made plenty of mistakes along the way too, I know that, and he's confessed those as I have confessed mine, but I _was_ wrong there. There, and so many other times before."

"Making mistakes is one thing, Isabella" her mother said. "Getting hung up on them and calling them 'stalking' is another. You never intended to hurt anyone. You yourself said that Phineas forgave you. Now, you must forgive yourself too."

Her mother's smile made Isabella's heart feel just a bit warmer, but she couldn't help but shake her head at that. "I wish I could," she whispered. "It… I can't say it bothers me, per se? But it's something that I've done. Something that I _need_ to remember."

What she couldn't say, of course, was that the memory of what she had done wrong was the main thing keeping her from once more getting riled up at what _Phineas_ had done to her – with his sister, no less. Maybe what she was truly afraid of was that if she accepted her own mistakes and moved past them, she would have to either fully accept Phineas' mistakes too – fully accept Phineas' relationship with Candace – or let herself get worked up again at her unfair treatment. Which would probably get between her and Ferb, too. She could deal with Phineas and Candace's relationship as… as a kind of _punishment_, almost, but if there was no need to punish herself…

Ugh, why did this have to be so _complicated_?

The thirteen-year-old girl tried to let herself relax in her mother's arms. Relaxation was good. It cleared the fog in her head and made her able to think a little more clearly. About what she needed, and what she wanted.

Was she unnecessarily blaming herself for something, and thus hurting herself? Isabella wasn't sure. She knew Phineas had forgiven her, and Candace… well, Candace was a different story, and one that would have to be addressed, but Isabella had never cared too much about _her_ opinion anyway, even before the older girl had ruined her romantic future. And then there was Ferb, of course, who had been loyal to her from the start – admitting that she had made mistakes, and biased in her favor for reasons that were kind of flattering, but still giving her his honest assessment that what she had done wasn't any sort of great crime. She had made mistakes – she needed to acknowledge them, yes, but then she could move on.

Moving on was difficult, though. How was she supposed to cope with the Flynn-Fletchers without feeling either righteous indignation or guilt for her mistakes? How could she bring herself to abandon her crush without it being 'wrong'? Without any of that, life would just be… normal, but it wasn't normal, because of Phineas and Candace and Phineas having rejected her and the whole thing with Ferb.

Was she clinging to her guilt now? Trying to use it to stave off a feeling of normalcy which would feel even _more_ uncomfortable in these changed conditions? She had stalked Phineas, in a way, and she had felt sorry for that – but was the way she took it for granted that those actions had been very flawed at least and yet didn't feel too upset about it just a cover to focus on while she got used to the new situation?

Isabella didn't know. What she did know was that, as her mother had said and despite whatever Phineas and Ferb might tell her, she _was_ probably a little young to be worried about those things.

And so, she stayed there, in Mama's arms. Listening to her mother console her and tell her that it was all going to be all right. And maybe it was. Maybe she had hope that with this whole Ferb thing, she would find a new place for herself, a new normal, almost, so that she could let go of any remaining guilt complexes and face the future with her head held high.

Would that new thing be a romantic relationship? Of that, Isabella still wasn't convinced. Once more, she let her mother's words pass through her head. Her mother's, who meant so well, and probably her father's, as he would say the same things that his wife had when he came home. They were and would be worried about her, which was fair enough. She had surprised herself with the fact that she had fallen into her mom's arms just like that, two days after Phineas had shown her that he didn't want to be with her – clearly she wasn't over her issues so soon. Even confusion and room for something different didn't help with that.

But as complicated as this whole thing was, Isabella knew that the big decisions were ones that ultimately she herself would have to take.

Did she still want to go out with Ferb?

Yes.

Was she capable of confronting him and his family without getting lost in either guilt complexes, blame games, or just getting caught up in the fact that she had always been in love with _Phineas_ rather than with him?

She thought so, yes.

So she _would_ try. She would take heed of her mother's advice, and remain cautious – but this was still a path that Isabella Garcia-Shapiro wanted to walk upon, and she was not going to take a step back and wait here forever until she'd figured out her feelings. She would do that now, getting as much help as she could, but ultimately still aiming at that same day of confrontation.

After all, she still had five days left.

_FERB_

Of course, Ferb had no idea of what was going on across the street that day. It was the first day of school, and just like inventing days had their own busy, distracting routines, so did school days, and the familiarity of that routine was enough to keep him from thinking about Isabella too much. He did see her in class, though, and couldn't help but note that she appeared to be at least as awkward around him as she was around his brother. She kept to her own table, far away from the Flynn-Fletchers, and it was only the first brief glance as she spotted them that told her anything about her emotions. It was just a blank freeze, then a half-forced smile, a slightly more genuine smile, her eyes meeting his (not just Phineas', or both of theirs; he was quite sure of that) for a fleeting second, and then she looked away again.

Isabella was still uncomfortable, then. Which was fair enough, and it would be undue for him to draw any sorts of conclusions about their romantic viability from it. As tempting as it might be for the vulnerable parts of his self-esteem (or his habitual assumption that Isabella was only physically capable of being interested in Phineas, which was probably the same thing by now) to assume that her awkwardness was a sign of rejection, he knew that there were lots of other possible reasons for her to feel discomfort. He himself was still struggling to get used to the new situation, so he couldn't blame Isabella for doing the same.

Still, it made his task of being the best date for her on Saturday – a date who was prepared to enter into a serious relationship if Isabella was willing to do so – just a bit harder. That thought popped up into his head again as he got home and walked past their neighbors' house, and no matter how much Phineas talked to him, it didn't fully leave him. At best, it receded until dinner.

Dinner was… comforting. After everything, Ferb had been half expecting that to be new and unusual as well, but even though this was the first time they ate together as a family after last Saturday, Phineas and Candace at least seemed to be at ease with themselves. And where for the former that was only to be expected, for the latter that was entirely new, especially given how worked up Candace had been sometimes during the previous weeks, either when she was dating Phineas or when she wasn't. Now, though, his sister was as relaxed as she had been since Jeremy was still around – or, since especially in the last weeks of their relationship that hadn't been the most relaxing environment for Candace Flynn either, since mid-summer.

Her relationship with Phineas was… apparent to someone who knew the truth, but yet normal, and not something that drew attention or would lead to fears of drawing attention. Even busting (or the lack thereof) apparently couldn't get Candace down, not that that had ever been such a problem on week days anyway. She got along with him and with Phineas, which she always had of course, but the tension was… not fully gone, but it was limited to an extent to which it hadn't been before.

It was good to watch Candace still be herself, except happy and content – a state of which Ferb could not deny the origin. He wondered whether it could last, not because of Phineas himself but because of all the troubles they still faced in their lives and Candace's natural tendency towards neurosis, but for now, things were good.

Which, of course, also gave _him_ an opportunity. Phineas' words had been helpful and reassuring yesterday, but of course Phineas couldn't tell him everything he needed to know, certainly not when it came to Isabella. The two of them had been close, but Phineas' lack of knowledge of Isabella's crush had ensured that he knew a lot less about her character than he could have. Candace wouldn't know everything either, since she had never been extremely close to the neighbor who was her brothers' age, but she would know some things, and, of course, she was also a girl. There might be interesting insights that she had to offer from that perspective, not to mention that he needed to talk to his older sister anyway after all that had happened between them.

Ferb waited until after dinner, when he tacitly separated from his stepbrother and went to the room of their older sister instead. Phineas gave him a curious look, but didn't ask any questions, and thus it was that Ferb Fletcher knocked on Candace's bedroom door at around 7 PM. He heard his sister call for him to enter, and privately enjoyed the brief flash of disappointment that crossed her face the moment she realized that he wasn't Phineas, disappointment that was replaced by confusion and a guarded expression.

"Ferb?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

Whatever could be said about his older sister, it wasn't that she didn't speak her mind. (Well, unless she was talking to Jeremy. Had been talking to Jeremy. And probably to Phineas too. And she often lied to herself. Maybe she didn't speak her mind as much as he initially thought after all.) He shook his head, not emphatically but strongly enough that he knew that Candace would understand it, and closed the door behind him, staring at his sister.

It was strange to be in a single room alone with Candace. Ferb loved his stepsister and he knew she loved him, but they hardly had significant conversations when Phineas wasn't present, the major exception being that one time right after Phineas and Candace's rather intense break-up spat over busting. The two of them were just too different, and Candace had a tendency to be… impatient. That showed itself clearly enough even now, as Candace soon lost her patience with Ferb trying to figure out how to approach the question of Isabella and romance (neither of which were subjects he would _ever_ have expected to talk about with his sister, at least not pertaining to himself) to her.

"Look, Ferb, I'm busy, okay?" she said. "With… important teenage stuff." She awkwardly waved her hand around her, from the expression on her face only belatedly realizing that there was nothing around her that gave any indication that she was indeed doing important things. Her school books were there, but they were far away, and she had been sitting in front of her mirror. "So, I'd like it if you wouldn't just stand around and stare at me like that. If you're bored, I'm sure Phineas can think of something for you to do." She frowned. "Wait, do you have something to tell me about Phineas? Is he okay? Did something happen? Did Mom and Dad find out? Did he…" She shook her head. "All right, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions here. But I can't exactly tell from your face, you _know_ that."

That was fair enough. Although Ferb would like for his sister to simply have slightly more patience with him, given her frantic nature that wasn't likely to happen any time soon (and apparently she wasn't quite relaxed enough for that) and her inability to read his facial expression would not help there. It would have been nice if Candace was more like Phineas in that way, being able to understand him just like that, but that was a skill that would probably take a long time for her to master.

"I'd like to talk to you about Isabella," he said softly.

Candace blinked in confusion. "Isabella?" she repeated. "As in, our neighbor? The girl who crushed on Phineas and – " He could see the moment she made the connection in her mind. "The girl you're currently pining after?"

Ferb waited as his sister processed this information, nodding slowly but still appearing to be lost. "I… see?" She motioned for him to sit down at the end of her bed and he did so. "Well, I'm… happy for you?" she guessed. "If you want to get into a relationship with Isabella, you should do so. It'd keep her away from _Phineas_, at least." She grinned awkwardly. "And if Phineas was right yesterday morning, it sounded like you two had hit it off after… well, after what happened Saturday night." Candace cast her eyes away from him for a moment, and Ferb instinctively did the same. "We both know that he's prone to exaggerating sometimes, but even if there's just a chance, you should probably go for it. You're a good guy, Ferb. Not for _me_, I don't think, and until last week I wouldn't have thought that you would be Isabella's type either, but, well, after everything I've been through with Phineas, I should probably be the last person to tell someone who they can and can't be attracted to."

Candace chuckled at her own words, and a small smile appeared on Ferb's face too. Yes, things certainly hadn't gone according to plan over the last couple of weeks – or to _plans_, plural, given that both Candace and Isabella had made such detailed analyses of what they had wanted their future to be like. But sometimes, unexpected things did happen, and Ferb was determined to make the most of it now that it had. And asking Candace for advice was just one of the many ways he could prepare for hopefully knocking Isabella off her feet next Saturday. (Well, maybe he wouldn't quite achieve _that_, but Ferb knew he was perceived as charming by girls for whatever reason. Even if Isabella might not be as susceptible to his charm as many around her had been, she had still showed signs of attraction towards him. That had to count for something.)

And then Candace looked slightly uneasy. It was very brief, and Ferb almost missed it – if they hadn't been alone together, he probably would have. The one moment, she had been laughing, and the next she seemed cheerful again, but in-between… in-between was something he couldn't ignore. Not if he wanted a good answer to his questions, but above all, not if he cared about his sister.

And he did. Candace might not be as significant a person in his life as she was in Phineas', or as Phineas was to him, but she was still his older sister and he loved her. He did not want to leave them at odds, and if that required resolving outstanding issues, then it did.

"I intended to ask for your advice on pursuing a relationship," he replied, continuing to speak before Candace cut him off. "But I don't want to upset you. I understand that the confrontation Phineas and I had two days ago might still be effecting your views of me, and I realize that I never properly apologized to you for it. But I _am_ sorry, Candace. I made mistakes. I did things that I never should have done. But I love you and Phineas both as my siblings, and that is why I hope that you can forgive me."

Candace stared up at him, bewildered. "I…" she began. "Where did you get the idea that I was upset? I was just casually talking to you, I was…"

She fell silent as she caught the expression in her stepbrother's eyes and sighed. "I… all right, maybe it did get to me" she admitted. "I'm trying to just get along with you again, Ferb, and I know you didn't mean to do what happened, but… I don't know." She shook her head. "I get riled up so easily, at you and Isabella both, and it's so hard to climb down from that again. But I do care about you, too. You may be my stepbrother, and we've never been as close to each other as we've been to Phineas, but even so. I…" She blushed awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable – maybe a return to form after her initial willingness to display her emotions freely today and yesterday? Or maybe that had been just for romantic emotions. It _had_ clearly been an action taken in response to her reunification with their sibling, after all. "I love you too? I do."

Ferb nodded in acceptance, feeling a slight relief even though he'd known in his heart that there had been no danger of him and Candace losing each other forever, not after he and Phineas had reconciled at least. Candace _did_ get worked up easily, but he had always known that her heart wasn't in it and he had never let himself get _too_ upset at her outbursts of anger at him and Phineas. The fact that this time, Candace's anger had been _over_ Phineas made it very different indeed, but now that he and his brother had made up, he knew Candace wouldn't let the issue stay between them permanently. She might hold a grudge for a while, but she wouldn't hate him.

"I want us to be able to get along again, like normal," Candace softly spoke. "And that's not as easy for me as it is for Phineas. Because… Ferb, he did trust you. You were his _brother_. And I know Phineas made his own mistakes, and heck, I certainly know _I_ did, but you still had no rights to punch him." She shook her head. "But I can move on. We've got to move on. And I'll help you out, I just… don't quite know what to say, not anymore than I did earlier. Isabella and I might both be girls, but that doesn't mean I know the inside of her mind any better than you do."

Ferb nodded, but he remained silent as he stared at his sister, who eventually started thinking again. "You know, I'd tell you stuff about dating girls, but I would guess that there is a lot there that you know already, and more to the point, I don't really know what you don't know. So I'm just going to go for the obvious stuff, okay?" He blinked. "All right, then, I'm guessing that's a 'yes'. So, knowing Isabella, she would probably be into all those flashy things that you're good at, the charm and the showing off and such, but she's also into talking about feelings, and I know that you're not too great at that. Which makes it good that you reached out for advice, I guess, although if you don't _know_, you're free to tell her." She smiled. "I… well, I guess I'm not average, but I know that if Jeremy had ever told me that he had issues with things, not that he would have, it would have made me feel more at ease about my own things? Because you know how much I worried about stuff and getting it right."

She sighed. "Isabella is… probably better at those sorts of things than I am" she admitted. "From _that_ perspective alone, Phineas probably should have gone for her, but he didn't, and I'm glad he didn't." Candace smiled again. "But no matter how confident she appears, she's got to be shaken up in some ways by what happened. I mean, you know that, because you comforted her. So my first tip would be to take it slowly. _Really_ slowly. And be clear about what you mean, be clear about the fact that you don't have all the answers. Some girls might like that whole dark, perfect and enigmatic thing that you've got going on, and I think Isabella might too, but not when she doesn't know anything herself.

I mean, it is good that one person in a relationship has a handle on things – don't get me wrong. I would be the last person to deny that, given that I've never been that person and greatly appreciated that Jeremy and Phineas _are_. But it's not like you're in a burning spaceship that is being overrun by Martians or something. Well, not Martians, Martians wouldn't kill you – Venusians? That would work. I guess. We've never been to Venus, have we?" Ferb barely had time to shake his head before she proceeded. "What I'm saying is that in _that_ case, perfection is fine and stops people from panicking because at least someone has everything under control. But when you're only just starting a relationship… I don't know, it seems to me that it would be better if you showed that even though you have _some_ of the answers, you don't have all of them." She shrugged. "Personally, I probably wouldn't believe any boyfriend of mine who claimed to have just the same amount of issues as I have, but, you know, Isabella isn't me, and her situation is obviously different. So for you, it would work. And it helped a lot for me that Phineas showed that he wasn't perfect. Because… because by doing that, he made me realize that he _was_?" She lay back on her bed and shook her head. "All right, I don't pretend that any of this makes sense. I just hope it's helpful, in a way."

Ferb nodded slowly, reflecting on his sister's words. Candace had a tendency to ramble on an on in an incomprehensible way, but that didn't mean that her words didn't have some truth to them. His intention had been, more or less, to go into this just like he would go into conversations with any girl, including his old crush Vanessa. Just right now, he'd been hoping to charm Isabella off her feet. But Candace was right that he didn't want to overwhelm her, or make her feel like he had everything figured out. Because truth be told, he hadn't, and the only reason he often felt like he did was because he hadn't had to deal with so many great things anyway.

Inventing was something he could do. Appearing suave and confident – sure. But as Phineas had pointed out, this was going to require more than that. He would have to talk. He would have to make decisions that effected himself, decisions which he couldn't just remain aloof from. Ferb was discomfortingly reminded of the past weeks and his efforts to help his brother out then… in a very different way from what Phineas had wanted. If it had been up to him, Phineas and Candace would have never gotten together – not even necessarily because he believed they shouldn't, but because he believed that they _couldn't_. But Phineas had defied those risks and proven him wrong. Time and time again. And although he still felt he'd had valid concerns, things had actually worked out for his brother… and in a way, it had been Ferb himself who had messed things up sometimes. Like by not telling Phineas about Isabella's crush and making his brother feel like he couldn't trust him, or by letting his own feelings for Isabella influence his actions to an extent that he had often sought to deny.

Ferb sighed. This… wasn't easy. This wasn't something that he could do alone – he would have to do it _together_ with Isabella, and more so than ever before, he realized that he needed his siblings' advice. Phineas telling him to talk more. Candace telling him not to frighten Isabella off by appearing like he had it all in the bag. Those were things that might have occurred to him otherwise, but whose importance he would have underrated… perhaps until it was too late.

He looked up at his sister and smiled as graciously as he knew how to, signaling that he appreciated her advice. Once again, it occurred to him only belatedly that she might not get his meaning without him saying anything, but she sat back upright again and smiled back. "I bet I'm making it sound incredibly hard," she said. "And, well, it's no picnic, I can tell you that. And a couple of weeks ago, I would have told you that it _was_ every bit as hard as I was making it sound – well, maybe I would? Because Isabella is no Jeremy, obviously, so I'm hardly going to tell you that the world will end if you fail. But even though she _is_ important to you, I'll tell you what I learned from Phineas – that you don't have to panic, because it _can_ be fine. Things can work out, even without you frantically monitoring every detail."

She shook her head, as if in disbelief at the words she was saying. (They _were_ rather unlike everything she used to proclaim.) "You just have to have the basics under control, I guess. Be nice to her. She'll like that. Just… kind and reassuring. I mean, I'm mostly drawing on experience from Phineas' relationship with me, but I think that is a lot of what I fell for, in the end. Even though I never realized befo-" She blinked and rapidly shook her head, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as Ferb fought to conceal his smirk. "But that's not any of _your_ business." She gave him a look that indicated that he'd better not even _think_ about sharing any of the things he had overheard about her feelings for Phineas either. Probably not even with other people in the know… although to be fair that was a fairly short list, especially given that he wasn't going to tell _Isabella_ details about his siblings' feelings for each other anyway.

Candace cleared her throat, coughing loudly. "And – well, this is basic stuff, really, but you could tell her she's pretty? Compliments are always good. Just don't overdo it, or she'll start thinking you're only telling her that stuff to make her feel better." She blinked. "Which I guess you kind of _are_, and there's nothing wrong with making her feel better, but…" She awkwardly gestured with her hand. "Well, you know what I mean, right?" Ferb nodded – especially after her experience with Phineas, Isabella was likely to be skeptical of someone lavishing her in praise without actually _showing_ her that he cared in a romantic way. "Which reminds me – you've got to be honest. Honest, and open." She gave him a pointed look. "Like I said before, cut down on the mystery. You can do that when you two are fully together. You've got to show how you feel."

Ferb wondered whether Candace realized the inherent hypocrisy in that statement. That said, she did have a point. He… well, he wasn't as insecure as his sister was, and he wouldn't say that he bottled things up, but even with Phineas, he didn't really share much of what he was feeling. (And Phineas could read his facial expressions, which made that a lot easier than it would otherwise have been.) But he had noticed that such things were important in a romantic relationship, especially when it concerned the girl sitting in front of him right now. Maybe things between him and Isabella weren't likely to get out of hand quite as quickly as they had between Candace and Jeremy, but even so, it was a risk that he preferred not to run.

He… would have to share things. Talk about things. And it wasn't that Ferb was afraid of talking, per se, or even being in the center of attention. The main reason for the silence that people were so used to from him was because he simply overthought things, after all. But nevertheless, habits ran deep, and constantly sharing what he felt, especially in ways beyond his facial expression… it felt unnatural. Uncomfortable.

Maybe he was wrong about trying to do this after all.

No, that wasn't it. That couldn't be it. Ferb had always had a low-key desire for romance, nothing concrete that swayed his actions but nevertheless as an undercurrent to everything he did, and even if that romance wasn't going to be with Vanessa, and if it would have to be a serious effort made with a girl whose attraction to him would have seemed impossible only a few weeks ago… it was worth it. He was determined to make it worth it. Not just because of himself, but most of all because of Isabella. He had asked her out on Saturday. She might not object if he withdrew the invitation – perhaps normalcy would return and she would make the trip to ask that question herself – but Ferb was determined that as long as the offer still stood on her side, it would stand on his, too.

Candace was still rambling. It was a familiar sound, not quite as comforting as Phineas' chattering but even so. Ferb forced himself to pay attention, and found that she was talking about how sometimes, people appeared to think a certain way, but they actually didn't, and how he should realize that. It was probably another allegory of sorts to her relationship with Jeremy, and her newfound appreciation of him and his brother (mostly Phineas, let's be fair here) but it was still applicable to Isabella. At least looking beyond the surface was something that Ferb figured he _could_ do quite easily. Now more than ever, it was important for him to notice what Isabella was really feeling, and although her directing those feelings towards him might make it harder for him to distinguish between truth and falsehoods than when those feelings had been geared towards Phineas and Ferb had been standing on the sidelines, an objective bystander whom Isabella didn't bother to hide anything from, this was still a 'people skill' on which he deemed himself to have a reasonable level of control.

He could do this.

He would do this.

Finally, Candace caught his eye again and smiled awkwardly. "So, was that enough? Because I'm pretty sure I'm done here, and I've still got a busy evening. So, you might want to go and do some other stuff now."

That was… a not very tactful way of saying she didn't want him in the room anymore, but it was better than what she'd used to offer up. Ferb nodded and gave his sister an appreciative smile, getting up.

"Right, right" Candace spoke awkwardly. "Glad to have been of help. Say hi to…" She caught herself and her face colored red. "Never mind. Just go, okay? Go and conspire on your _stupid_ inventions and whatnot."

There was nothing but embarrassment in her voice as she turned away from him, and Ferb had to grin to himself once again as he left the room. 'Young love' was another term that he would never have thought to apply to his siblings, but the way they couldn't seem to stop talking about each other certainly left fewer other explanations. Oh well, it had only been two days since their reunification. It would probably mellow out sooner rather than later – in so far as people like Phineas and Candace _could_ be mellow about anything.

And in the meantime, Ferb could continue to stew on his own relationship, and the good advice Candace had given to him. Candace's advice had been flawed – and granted, he should have known that just the fact that she was also a girl wouldn't be a panacea for everything he didn't know about dating Isabella – but she had been well intentioned, and she had given him several things to think about.

Openness. Slowness. Caution. Honesty. Those were all important things that he needed to keep in mind now that he was seriously considering a romantic relationship with the girl from across the street. Some of them were obvious, some were new insights in some ways, but all of them were way too easy to forget. He would have to control these things – and yet, as Candace had pointed out, he could not sound too self-assured, as if he knew exactly where he was going with this. Isabella wouldn't like that. And yet, Ferb now considered, wasn't that just what she herself had always been like around Phineas? Isabella had thought she'd known the final destination of her friendship with Phineas until the very day she had walked in on him with Candace. The fact that she had been wrong might lead her to seek out someone else who _did_ know where they were going without her trying to control everything herself, but old habits died hard.

Ferb sighed as he got back to his bedroom, trying to prepare himself for the night and clear his mind by reading one of the Stumbleberry Finkbat books. It wasn't his _favorite_ book – he likely wasn't going to see that one again – but that didn't matter right now. All he needed was a distraction, a way to settle himself after all the things he had learned about courting Isabella.

This was hard – much harder than he had thought at first. And even though he might be overthinking this right now, he knew for certain that it would require making an effort that he had never made before.

But it was worth it.

She was worth it.

And that was enough.


	3. Tuesday (Firesides and Lawrence, Linda)

**Author's Note: **_In which people who have remained out of the loop thus far are informed, and confidence is gained (perhaps sometimes too much). But we're not there yet. _

**DAY THREE**

_ISABELLA_

Fireside meetings were supposed to be fun.

Although Isabella's prime reason for joining the Fireside Girls back when she was still a little girl had been to be able to participate in all the activities it offered, the scout group had over time become a home of sorts to her, a place where she could hang out with friends and discuss everything that was on her mind. Cool stuff like boys and fashion, but also serious stuff like homework and parents' inexplicable behavior. Not much actually got done at those meetings back at the lodge – they needed to go out into the field for that – but even so, just hanging out together and chatting was fun. And as much as Isabella saw her crush on Phineas as the thing she lived for, she always looked forwards to meeting the girls too.

Today, though, everything was different. The girls to whom she had talked so much about Phineas were likely to be the last ones to understand her sudden shift to Ferb. How could they, when she couldn't quite explain her attraction to the quiet British boy herself, and when she would not be able to tell them the main reason why Phineas himself was off the table? Not just because the Flynn-Fletchers didn't want her to tell (and she couldn't quite bring herself to do that to them) but also because _that_ topic was simply still too painful and incomprehensible to discuss.

If only she'd been prepared for this. When she had talked to Gretchen about Ferb a few weeks earlier, there had been… something there. Something that had stopped her from wholeheartedly endorsing her second-in-command's crush on Phineas' brother, and something that she could now share under the signs of her growing interest in Ferb. An interest that had only become clear to her four days ago, and which she hadn't had the time to understand herself, let alone come up with an acceptable explanation for.

Oh, who was she kidding. Even if she'd realized the direction some of her feelings were pointing right from the start, she still wouldn't have been able to come up with something her friends would remotely understand in the meantime. She would just have to give her best story and deal with it. Well, that, or postpone the topic of discussion even further – as she had done by not mentioning the Flynn-Fletchers at all at school the past two days, which had probably surprised the girls – but honestly, this was going to happen sooner or later, and she wasn't going to let it consume her. She would talk to her friends, and if she could do that, then eventually, she would be able to talk to Ferb too.

She arrived at the lodge right on time for their after-school meeting, knocking on the door with the ritual the Fireside Girls were long used to. As she walked in, she noticed that most girls were looking at her with some curiosity. Apparently, her attempts to cover her mood over the past couple of days had not been so good as she'd thought they were – that or the fact that she avoided Phineas was such a shift in what her friends were used to that they knew something had to have happened. It just confirmed her realization that she couldn't put this off any longer.

Isabella sighed and walked up to the center, taking her place behind the stand as she usually did after the customary greetings. "All right, girls," she spoke, "before we can deal with Adyson's new patches, there is… something I need to share with you. Something personal."

"I knew it!" Milly exclaimed cheerfully. "It's got something to do with Phineas, doesn't it?"

"It _always_ has something to do with Phineas," Adyson said, sounding bored but in an amused way.

"Did he ask you out?" Ginger piped up. "Come on Isabella, you can tell us!"

Isabella uneasily bit her lip. She was used to her friends' enthusiasm, but it felt very different now that so much of her life had been turned on its head. There would be no more discussions about Phineas. None of the things that she had taken for granted, that the Fireside Girls had taken for granted, would remain. She hesitated, not knowing quite what to say.

Fortunately, Gretchen – loyal, reliable Gretchen – came to her aid, noticing the expression on her face. "Girls, can we back down now?" she asked. "I think you're overwhelming Isabella. She looks uncomfortable."

As the rest of the girls hesitated in turn – they might have been children brimming with energy and curiosity, but they all still cared about one another – Isabella felt relief come over her. Okay, she could work with this. What she had to say… might catch them off-guard, but they would at least be willing to listen to her, right? She knew that. It wasn't like she was going to lose any friends over her _own_ private romantic preferences, no matter how much they had become the center of public discussion over the past couple of years.

"Gretchen is right," she spoke softly. "And so is Milly, actually – it _does_ have something to do with Phineas." She felt her face redden, and barely noticed it as she took a step back from all the eyes that were fixated on her. "Phineas… he and I… well, I didn't tell you this, but I meant to tell you – last Saturday, he…" How was it that she'd had so much time to prepare for this and she still wasn't ready? "He rejected me."

She had expected loud gasps from her audience. What she got instead was some blank looks, some exasperated looks, and some frowns. "You mean, you tried to ask him out and he didn't realize what you were doing again, right?" Katie asked.

"Boys," Adyson said, rolling her eyes. "They're hopeless, really. You should be more assertive with him, Isabella. Show him what you want."

Isabella gulped, getting very uncomfortable at those words. "No – no" she said. "That's actually the last thing I should do, Adyson." She gave her third-in-command a firm look, which the girl looked confused by. "All right, I understand if this can be a lot to take in. Believe me, it was for me, too." She tried to chuckle awkwardly. "But when I say he rejected me, I mean that I genuinely, honestly talked to him about my feelings for him, and he… wasn't interested. In me. He did not, and does not, want to date me."

Again, there was a moment of silence – although this time, the facial expressions of the girls made it obvious that it was only the silence before the storm. Isabella winced, waiting as the barrage unleashed itself.

"He wasn't interested?"

"He _turned_ you _down_?"

"Are you serious?"

"That's crazy!"

"But he's _Phineas_!"

"What did he do?"

"What did _you_ do?"

"Girls, please!" Isabella tried to gesture for calm, but where usually her voice at least carried _some_ overweight in the group, she now went almost fully ignored. It was only as she repeated her plea, and first Ginger and then Gretchen and Adyson caught on and started nudging the rest in the sides, that the crowd gradually calmed down… that was to say, they stopped talking. Their facial expressions were still anything but at ease.

"Isabella, what happened?" Holly finally spoke up. She was somewhat of an 'unusual suspect', being usually in the background, but now that the more vocal girls had been silenced and were feeling confused, she was the one to step up and asked the question that had to be in all their minds.

Isabella nodded, swallowing nervously. "That's a good question," she admitted. "And I'll try to explain it to you. It all started last Saturday, you see, when Phineas and I went out together." Would it be best to leave out the fact that he had asked her? After all, it might color his actions in a rather more negative light – although honestly, by not telling the Girls the truth about his sister, she was already doing him a pretty big favor. "He… well, he was Phineas, of course. Didn't realize anything about what I thought was going to happen that night. But we went to Paul Bunyan's together, we ate dinner, and I… I tried to kiss him." Okay, that was technically true, right? Of course, she had never quite gotten to the point, but she remembered ordering spaghetti with one clear goal in mind. "And he told me that he wasn't interested in me. That he had never thought romantically about me, and that he wasn't going to do so. I… I stormed out, and ran home. Sat by the pool in the backyard and just… felt so horribly lost. And then Ferb showed up." Isabella glanced up into the girls' eyes, eyes that were filled with sympathy, displeasure and continuing confusion, and knowing that it would all change even further by what she was about to say. "He comforted me. And then he kissed me."

The girls stared at her, which was honestly getting kind of unnerving. Even Gretchen seemed too bewildered to react in any other way right now, although Isabella was sure that that would come in time – although, honestly, such a one-on-one conversation was almost _easier_ than what she was facing right now.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Katie said. "Did you just say that after you… you were dumped by _Phineas_," it sounded like she had a hard time believing her own words, which was something that Isabella could easily relate to, "Ferb _kissed_ you? As in, his brother Ferb?"

"Yes, yes I did" Isabella replied. She willed herself to firm up – whatever she was feeling here, she _did_ care about Ferb, and she had wanted that kiss, even if she still couldn't explain herself. She would defend it. "We talked about what had happened, I realized that I'd gone too far in… bothering Phineas, Ferb consoled me and admitted that he should have told me lots of stuff too, and we were hugging and at a certain point Ferb got uncomfortable, and I asked him about it, and then he kissed me. And I kissed him back. I was surprised, but I did return his kiss, and I enjoyed kissing him."

There was another uncomfortable pause. Isabella felt like she could sink through the floor of their lodge, but unfortunately they had all earned their hardwood patches. That wasn't going to work, then, and neither was just dodging the looks she was getting – but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to try.

"That is… just wrong," Gretchen murmured. "You're in love with Phineas, right? You shouldn't be kissing Ferb."

"Yeah," Adyson chimed in. "Look, Isabella, Phineas obviously wasn't thinking straight. You two have been the best of friends forever, and you trying to kiss him… well, I guess it must have caught him off-guard. Cool as he is, he _can_ be kinda slow with those things. So he rejected you on the spot, but if he had just thought things through, there's no reason he wouldn't want to be with you."

"You _are_ our fearless leader!" Ginger piped up. Milly gave her a look, and the girl unperturbedly shrugged. "What, that's true, isn't it?"

"You said this was Saturday, right?" Holly asked. "Have you talked to Phineas again since then? Maybe he's changed his mind."

Isabella blinked. She had expected the girls to be outraged and stubborn, but not like this. "Look, it doesn't work like that, okay? I mean, obviously I would love for him to have changed his mind," would she really? A pang of guilt and confusion shot through her as she thought of Ferb Fletcher, "but that hasn't happened. I know that."

She didn't, of course. Not technically. As much as Phineas' infatuation with his sister and all that came with it sounded like the kind of step that no one would undertake without being thoroughly disinterested in the alternatives, this was still _Phineas_ she was talking about. He might have simply underestimated the kinds of problems that came with dating Candace – or even faced them head-on, like he did with so many of his projects, and then abandon the challenge easily anyway. There had been no concrete indication that Phineas would want that, either from himself or from Ferb, but it wasn't out of the question given his character. He could be stubborn and determined, but he was also flighty and distractible. Why couldn't he be the same about Candace?

Had she been too premature in accepting this as the new status quo? A status quo that involved _incest_, for crying out loud? And why had she just abandoned her hopes almost the moment she had seen Phineas kiss his sister – well, she thought her initial reaction was understandable, but even after she'd had a few hours to calm down, she had automatically taken the end of her crush for granted, and not because kissing the lips that had previously kissed Candace's would be gross. (Well, it would be, kind of. But that wasn't the point here.)

It was Ferb, wasn't it? Of course it was. It all came down to Ferb. He was the reason she hadn't defended her crush on Phineas then – and he was the one she had to defend right now.

She cleared her throat to get through to the girls eagerly chattering away about theories of what was going on in Phineas Flynn's mind at the moment, and shook her head. "Phineas is… a done deal," she said, wincing as she said it. "Romantically, at least. I'm not exactly enthusiastic about this either, and I can understand why you're shocked and that you need time to adjust – so did I, because, you know, I'm in the middle of all this – but I came here to talk to you about _Ferb_. I need your advice."

There was another uncomfortable silence. Some girls were starting to speak up in protest at her words, but then apparently concluded that they actually had nothing to say after all, and remained silent. It was Ginger who finally spoke.

"Go for it, then."

Everyone stared at her. "Wait, what?" Milly asked.

"Go for it," Ginger defiantly repeated, looking kinda twitchy. "Isabella… I know what it's like to feel something for a boy and have no one else around understand that." She was giving the rest of the room very pointed looks. "But that doesn't mean that you should just ignore those feelings."

"Well, come on, Ginge," Katie immediately complained. "We may have teased you about Baljeet a few times, but anyone can see that you do care for him. Isabella… well, she might _care_ about Ferb, but she… well, she…" She blushed. "She just shouldn't dive headfirst into pursuing a relationship with the other brother, okay?"

"The 'other' brother?" Isabella repeated dryly. Okay, when she thought about it it _probably_ wasn't fair to be so sarcastic there, because that was a name she would normally have been prone to giving Ferb herself, too. It was just that the past couple of weeks, everything had changed… and now Isabella was viewing Ferb Fletcher in a way that she never had before. He was no longer 'just' Phineas' brother.

"Well, you can't deny that that's what he kind of is?" Adyson pointed out. "I think I've only ever seen you talk to him once or twice. He's always there, for sure, but he's just…" She shrugged. "He's not Phineas, okay? That should tell you enough."

Isabella gave her an odd look. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that _you_ had a crush on Phineas," she said, trying to sound teasing in order to cover up how she felt. To her mild surprise, Adyson turned slightly pinker than that statement should have warranted – not that it really mattered anyway, as she was unable to keep her attention on the Sweetwater girl because Ginger had folded her arms and was looking around the room.

"You can't tell Isabella how she should or shouldn't feel," she said. "If she no longer wants to pursue Phineas, that's… weird, but, well, she did say he rejected her. And Ferb… well, I guess it's her taste? It is."

"Why _Ferb_, though?" Milly exclaimed, in a way that was seriously beginning to get irritating. "This whole thing makes no sense." She blushed. "I'm not saying that there's anything bad about Ferb, per se? There isn't. But… well, we've known Ferb for, what, ten years now? And he's never been anything more than that guy in the background. That's just who he is. He's not Phineas. He's nothing _like_ Phineas."

"I know, Milly," Isabella said, sighing. "I don't get where this comes from either. But I do know what happened between me and Ferb, and… well, I do like him. He's sweet, he's romantic, he's nice… he's all those things that Phineas isn't, not in the same way, but I'm beginning to think that that's a good thing. It's… almost kinda refreshing to think about flirting with a boy who will get everything I say within a few seconds rather than a few hours."

"Since when has Phineas' obliviousness ever stopped you before?" Katie pointed out. "You've been flirting with him for as long as I can remember. You've called him 'the very thing I live for', haven't you?" She shook her head. "You can't just use that as an argument to call it quits now. You've been doing this for years and years and faced so many setbacks because of Phineas being dense, so how is this any different?"

"Yeah!" Milly said, nodding eagerly. "Come on, Isabella. Phineas might not be a saint, but that's never bothered you before so I don't know why you suddenly want someone who supposedly is that perfect. I mean, he _is_ Ferb. Ferb never talks, he just stands there and does a lot of random things. He's… well, he's just not Phineas."

Isabella shook her head, feeling increasingly agitated. She had known something like this would happen, that she would be pressed into a corner, but she hadn't anticipated its intensity. "You're _all_ in love with Phineas, aren't you?" she said snidely.

"We're not, Isabella," Gretchen said. "You know that." She cast her eyes down again right after she said that, but Isabella had caught the look in Gretchen's eyes that reminded her of that moment from a couple of weeks ago. She had sort of abstractly thought about that particular can of worms before, but it only _really_ occurred to her now that Gretchen's own crush on Ferb Fletcher was… likely to remain something between her second-in-command and herself. She didn't think Gretchen would be mad at her for turning out to be the girl that Ferb had turned her down for, but it would certainly make things uncomfortable for a while. Not even Gretchen could let go of her feelings just like that, especially given that they were being thwarted by someone who had never given a second's thought to Ferb before, someone whom Gretchen had loyally supported for years…

The girl sighed. This was only getting _more_ complicated at this stage, not _less_.

Despite her concerns, though, and Gretchen's obvious issues, the small redhead didn't speak out against her and her voice remained kind and helpful as she went on. "What we're doing is pointing out that you were always in love with Phineas. If you're going to switch now," there was an awkward pause there, a slight crack in Gretchen's voice, "we just want to know you're not making a mistake."

"You've got to admit that this is pretty sudden for all of us" Holly pointed out. "Just a few days ago you were swooning over Phineas as always. Things were up, but nothing like this."

"I told you, Phineas turned me down," Isabella replied, trying to rise to all her height and giving her girls some vaguely intimidating looks to get them to finally back _off_. It didn't work. "I didn't want that to happen, but it's not like I can do very much to change that now or then. He turned me down, because he's just not romantically interested in me. I… I know that he isn't."

"Do you have any idea why he wouldn't be?" Ginger asked. "Might he have been interested in some other girl?"

Isabella froze up for a moment, but before she could say anything or could even be called upon to have a reaction, there was a plethora of snorts around the room and Adyson saved the day. "Get real, Ginge," she muttered. "Phineas? _Romantically_ interested in a girl – and one that's not Isabella? I'll believe that when I see it."

"Well, you never know," Ginger defensively replied. "It's not like we saw him turning down Isabella coming either."

"Yeah, but him crushing on someone else is an entirely different thing altogether," Milly said. "Besides, that's not what the issue is here – it's Ferb, and that you think that Isabella should just do a one-eighty and start dating him."

"I didn't say _that_," Ginger retorted. "I just said that if she wanted to explore those feelings she had for Ferb, she should feel free to do so."

"And since when does _Isabella_ have feelings for _Ferb_?"

"Um, girls?" Isabella said dryly. "Subject matter here? If you could please give me a moment to explain myself?" The room silenced, and she took a deep breath. "Thank you. Now, I know this is a surprise. That's what I said before. But I want to give Ferb a try, and I've spent enough time with him over the past couple of weeks to know that those feelings _are_ real."

She sighed wistfully. "It all began around the end of the summer, on a day when Phineas was seeing Candace off to college." The memory made Isabella wonder whether she should have seen something suspicious in her crush's behavior around his sister then, but she also knew that if she kept analyzing every last detail of Phineas' comings and goings from that perspective she would go mad. "I was planning to stay home at first, but Mama pointed out that Ferb was Phineas' brother, and that he was going to be my brother-in-law some day," someday _never_, now, "and that I would need to be on good terms with him – and maybe I could get his help with the whole Phineas thing. So, that day I talked to him – I _really_ tried to talk to him for the first time.

It was… strange, at first. I'd never really gotten more than a few words out of him before, and I never really tried. And yet, whatever he said that day gave me hope and encouraged me to talk to him again. And again. And that's how he gradually became my confidant, because even though he didn't always know everything that Phineas was up to and he was being all mysterious about it, you know, like he does," and she was pretty sure that she knew the reason for this particular case now, "he was still helpful. Kind. I trusted him more and more, and… well, there was this time when I couldn't quite grasp what Phineas was doing, and I felt like I had to talk to Ferb, and, well, I came to appreciate him too. He was sweet to me. He was warm and affectionate and quiet and… well, I've always wanted that in a romance, but I was always seeking it with Phineas. But it's not there with Phineas, is it?" She chuckled and shook her head. "It wasn't going to happen even if I _had_ ended up with him." Maybe Candace, for all of her quirks and eccentricities, _was_ a better fit for him at least in that regard… not that she would _ever_ give the other girl the pleasure of admitting that possibility to her face, of course. "And then last Saturday happened. And I called Ferb for help, and he was just so kind and warm and gentle to me, and…" She hesitated. "It's hard to explain. I can't explain everything. But we kissed then, he initiated it but I kissed him back, because I…" She shook her head. "I don't know what happened. I don't know where I'm going. But I _do_ know I have feelings for him. And the reason I came here today and told you – well, aside from the fact that you guys deserve to know – is that I need help in figuring those out."

The room before her was silent as she sat down on a chair that she didn't even remember putting there. Maybe Gretchen had done it. Or Ginger. Those were the ones she could rely on the most right now to be supportive of her, it seemed – Gretchen because she was Isabella's 'standard' sidekick, and Ginger because she was the only one backing Isabella's inexplicable infatuation with Ferb.

"So…" Adyson finally spoke up. "What do you want us to say, exactly?" She shrugged. "I mean, in the end, you don't need to ask our permission to date Ferb – and if he kissed you, you're already well on your way to successfully dating him in a way that you never were with Phineas."

Isabella nodded. "I know. But that doesn't make this any easier, it seems." She smiled wryly. "I never gave any thought to what the actual 'dating' part would be like, you know? Aside from sunshine and rainbows and spending time with Phineas, kissing him and going on generic romantic trips. Because, you know, romance." She sighed. "But now Ferb has asked me out for next Saturday – on a real, actual date. And now that those dates I dreamed about are there in _practice_… and with _Ferb_… I don't really know what to do."

"Well," Holly eventually said, after no one else seemed willing to respond, "I think you've come to the right place then."

She smiled at their chief, and one by one, so did the rest of the girls – even Katie and Adyson. (Gretchen managed a quite mellow smile.) Isabella felt herself release a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

"Okay, but first things first," Adyson said firmly. She gave Isabella a kind, supportive, but determined smirk. "Do you know where he's taking you?"

Isabella blinked. Come to think of it, that _would_ be a good thing to know. "I… don't?" she replied. "He just asked whether I would go with him, to make sense of these feelings we had. He never mentioned a place."

"Well, you've got to figure that out then," Adyson said, her no-nonsense voice tolerating no opposition. This was the way it was and that was what they were going to do. "If we're talking about next Saturday here, that's still four days away. You have plenty of time to prepare in order to make a good impression – and honestly, Isabella, there's no reason you're not going to. If Ferb fell in love with you while your attention was focused on Phineas, why wouldn't he be even more impressed with you once you're focusing on him?"

"You're making it sound real easy," Isabella dryly replied, even though she couldn't help but smile. "It's obviously not going to be as simple as that."

"Isn't it?" Ginger asked. She shrugged. "Adyson is right, you know. You've got Ferb wanting to go out with you on Saturday. And he might not be Phineas, but he's still a boy that you know and that's showing interest in you. That's the first hurdle taken right there."

"I know, I know," Isabella complained, sighing and sitting down. "I just… well, I want to do this, but part of me wonders whether I feel ready? And it's true that I still have four days left, but – well, I don't know if I can switch from Phineas to Ferb so easily."

"Isn't that what we just asked you?" Gretchen said softly. "And you said that you had – you vigorously defended dating Ferb. So why would that be a problem now?"

"Well, because…" Isabella paused, hesitated, and looked at the girls around the room, who were nodding at her. Of course she had stuck up for the principle of dating Ferb over Phineas, but that had simply been because she knew something that they didn't. She knew that Phineas would never be an option anymore, and she knew that Ferb had kissed her. She knew how she and Ferb had felt about each other that Saturday evening.

It had been such a complex night. And yet, now that she was thinking about it, it had also been such a _clear_ night. Because she had decided, almost with ease, that she wanted to call Ferb for help, that she wanted to cry in his arms when she'd been rejected, and that she wanted to kiss him back when he kissed her – and right thereafter, that she wanted to accept his offer to go out with him.

Maybe things were only straightforward when she was thinking – believing – pretending? – that she had to make quick decisions but would get to think them through later. While in reality, that was an illusion.

While in reality, she had already _made_ her decision and was ready to defend it – just not to herself.

Isabella shook her head. "I know I want to… to try this with Ferb" she said. "But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. Ferb is… well, he's Ferb." How could she explain? It's not just that he's not Phineas, but this…" She shook her head and let out a wry chuckle. "I'm not ready. Romance has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, but I'm not ready to go on an actual date, with an actual person who can reject or accept my advances, and Ferb… well, he's different. He's prepared. I know he is."

"And why, exactly, do you know this?" Milly asked.

"Yes, why do you?" Katie echoed. "Ferb might be Phineas' brother and capable of doing all those cool things, but he is just a boy like any other in the end. Even if he does fit the whole strong and silent type."

"He… kinda does, yes?" Gretchen spoke so softly that even the girls standing near her were having to turn towards her in order to hear her clearly. But she soon gained some of her usual self-confidence. "But that doesn't mean that he's going to be _perfect_, or that he'll have prepared for everything. Isabella, he's going to be just as nervous as you are."

Isabella snorted. "Not likely," she muttered. Would _Ferb_ ever stalk someone for years without even realizing it? (He'd had that thing with Vanessa, but she now understood how different that was.) Would Ferb have failed to miss all those hints that his crush wasn't into him? Would Ferb have ended up in a situation like she had on that fateful Saturday, unable to understand, unable to handle anything that she'd found herself caught up in? She'd had her plans, for sure, but those plans had been _wrong_ – and when she tried to think about a romantic future without flirting the way she had flirted with Phineas, she had no plans. She had been… lost when things didn't go as she'd expected, when Phineas had dumped her at Paul Bunyans. But Ferb had stepped in to help. Ferb had given her the warmth of his coat and got her back to his home. And when she had barged in on Phineas and Candace without thinking and had resorted to spewing insults at them, it had been Ferb who had stood up for her.

Okay, so that ordeal hadn't been _quite_ as one-sided she was now imagining it. Because she could hardly begrudge herself for the fact that she had shouted at people committing _incest_ – for the fact that the guy that had been her crush all her life, no matter what she might have done with that crush, was kissing his own sister. For crying out loud, that… that just wasn't _fair_. She could admit to her own wrongdoings, but _that_ had been…

Ferb had been there to help her out. If not for Ferb, she didn't think she would ever have calmed down enough, certainly not before Phineas showed up again and probably not even by now, to realize that she didn't want to squander her entire friendship with the boy from across the street just because romance was not an option for such a gruesome reason. She'd felt betrayed, but just as Ferb had been the one to help her voice those opinions, he had also been the one who had calmed her down, who had let her see her own flaws…

…or had he?

Because when she thought about it, Ferb had come to her _defense_, rightly or wrongly, back when she was sitting at the pool. Not just defending her, but also her earlier actions – and although she appreciated it and needed it at the time, she had also known him to be wrong there, and perhaps it had taken Ferb declaring her to be a saint for her to be able to admit to herself that she really hadn't been any of the sorts.

And then other things occurred to her. The way Ferb had punched Phineas, which wasn't quite real to her because she hadn't been there to see it, but she had definitely seen that bruise on Phineas' face and noticed that although it had faded, there were still traces of it when she saw the Flynn-Fletchers again at school yesterday and today. (Fortunately, it looked like either no one else had noticed, or they had assumed it to be the result of a minor incident involving their famous projects.)

That punch, for sure, had been wrong, just as defending her actions had been wrong. Both of them because Ferb had been so attached to her, which might ordinarily lead to her feeling guilty about it but now was not the time to concentrate on that. They had still been Ferb's own actions, taken of his own initiative. They had been mistakes that Ferb had made. Showcases of his imperfection, an imperfection that seemed to increase when matters involved her.

Because although she had perceived Ferb to be very helpful and she had gained a newfound appreciation of his kindness, when she looked back over the past couple of weeks, Isabella had to admit that there hadn't been _much_ concrete advice there. He had helped, yes, but more by just generally being there than by any unique words of wisdom. He'd mostly remained ambivalent, and it might have been not just the secret he was keeping about his siblings, but also his feelings for her clouding his judgment there.

Okay, that sounded a little conceited, and Isabella wasn't eager to sound conceited after what she had realized about herself over the past couple of days. But looking back at that kiss they had shared at the pool, it _was_ true, wasn't it? Ferb had stammered, he'd obviously kissed her out of impulse rather than as part of a longstanding plan, and she had been the one who had to take the initiative the second time.

The thought that Ferb might be nervous and flawed when it came to matters that involved her was… strange. Ferb had always seemed so self-assured when it came to those things, for what little she knew about his mindset to romance – the memory of his plan for a hypothetical dinner date with Vanessa, seemingly thought up on the fly, easily came to her. But there was no way to deny the facts. And just like she had thought of romance almost every day of her life but had never actually dated anyone, she knew the same had to hold true for Ferb Fletcher.

Ferb hadn't been nervous around Vanessa. But maybe she was _different_ from Vanessa.

It was a bizarre thing to think about, for sure. But it was something that Isabella knew wouldn't leave her mind again now that it had been nestled in there.

One of the girls clearing her throat brought her back to the world of the living. "Were you in Ferbland this time?" Holly teased.

That incited some giggles from the rest of the group, and Isabella gave them a bemused smile, letting the friendly mockery flow over her. It was a far different mood than the one she had met when she had first raised the issue of dating Ferb Fletcher, and that was what mattered. Not to mention that it was actually kind of true. She _had_ been thinking about Ferb, after all.

"I was just… thinking" she admitted. "Maybe you guys are right. Maybe I am overthinking this, and Ferb is just as nervous as I am. But I can't count on that, really."

"You can't, no," Gretchen said softly. "But he is the one who asked you out, so it's not like you have to overthink things. He's probably going to be the one planning the date and driving you back and forth and everything. All you have to do is sit there. Just calm down, Isabella, and it'll be fine."

"Gretchen is right," Ginger agreed. "You're Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, you know. I've never seen you not be confident in yourself, so why would you start now?" Isabella blushed slightly. "It's true. And… well, no offense, but it is only Ferb. No matter how cool he might be, you know him, and he asked you out in the first place, he wants this…" She shrugged. "It can't become a total disaster."

"You _are_ our troop leader" Holly agreed. "You've won so many patches, you've lead us on so many missions. If Ferb wasn't nervous about dating you, he ought to be."

"Okay, now you girls are making me blush," Isabella replied, shaking her head. "But…" She smiled at them. "Thanks."

Gretchen smiled back, a smile that was echoed by most of the girls in the room to a greater or lesser degree, even the ones that had been so opposed to her dating Ferb just a few minutes ago. "You're welcome."

It felt good. The words she had heard were making her feel a bit better, although she couldn't help but note in her mind that, of course, her scouts didn't _quite_ realize the wrongs that she had been forced to admit to. They couldn't understand the full complexity of the situation. It was easy for _them_ to say that she should just go there and date Ferb, but a lot harder for _her_ to actually do it.

And yet… and yet this was kind of what she'd come here for. To hear out her friends, to come clean with them as far as she could, and to get help. And maybe she'd gotten all of those things. 'Don't panic' might be really obvious advice, but it was hard to take, and Isabella had to admit that without them, she might never have realized that she was overthinking this. Not to mention that now she knew she could fall back on the Fireside Girls in case anything went wrong, because they accepted and more or less supported her… unusual switch from Phineas to Ferb.

Not everything was solved yet, that was for sure. But she had come a long way in just a couple of days, and it just made her feel that tiny bit more self-assured about the road that she had left to go. Her mother thought that she could do it. Her friends thought that she could do it. Now all she had to do was convince _herself_ that she could do it – and for that, she still had four days left to go.

"All right, then," she spoke up again, clearing her throat. "Moving on to the subject of honorary patches…"

_FERB_

The next time Ferb Fletcher would be confronted with the Isabella question, as part of his mind had taken to dubbing it, it was in a conversation that was probably inevitable at some point: the one with his parents.

Over the past couple of weeks, Lawrence and Linda had been the great outsiders in the romantic drama that had gone down. When it came to Phineas and Candace that was obvious, of course, but there was no real reason that Ferb's crush on Isabella should have remained a secret from them – and yet, Ferb's silent nature and the muddle of confused emotions that he felt, along with the fact that the Isabella question was so intricately tied up in the _other_ question, had kept him from raising the matter even after his parents had returned from their get-away. There had been no apparent cause for bringing it up, even – Ferb Fletcher was inclined to solve his own problems, and as much as he respected his parents, there was no reason to involve them. They could find out, for sure, but only in due time.

But where Ferb might have had many inhibitions and reasons not to talk about Isabella to his parents – or even consider the possibility of talking about her – he should have foreseen that those reasons wouldn't be so self-evident and natural to _everyone_. Which would be the reason that after school that Tuesday, Ferb's father walked up to him and asked if he and Linda could have a word with their son.

There had been family talks like this before, but they had usually involved either of his siblings – well, apart from that time shortly after he first got here, when his stepmother had managed to convince herself that her new son's silent nature was because he didn't like her and wasn't willing to accept her as a substitute for his mother, and it had taken both young Ferb and his father to talk her out of that. Aside from that moment, though, Ferb had mostly lead his own life, present at all family occasions of course and occasionally sharing a word with all members of his family, but mostly just doing his own thing when he wasn't hanging out with Phineas. Where both Candace and Phineas' explosive emotions (well, the former more than the latter, obviously, but even Phineas' more optimistic attitude was still volatile and occasionally lent itself to their parents stepping in) occasionally had to be curtailed with a good conversation, Ferb had thus far largely been exempt from that.

It was, he supposed, just another indication of how _different_ this whole situation was from any of the issues he had grappled with before.

He went into the living room, where his mother was looking warily at him. He sat down opposite both of his parents and analyzed their faces. Lawrence looked a bit distracted as he so often did, not quite sure what he was doing here, and yet with some vague spark of realization that something was going on and that he needed to get to the bottom of this as a responsible parent. Linda's face, by contrast, was more straight-forward. There was some confusion and bewilderment there – which was only natural, given that they had been left out of the loop entirely over the past couple of weeks – but it was also clear that she did know _something_.

Ferb's mind was racing. The most obvious question that this could be about was Phineas and Candace's relationship, and yet, if that was at stake, his parents would have just approached either of his siblings first. Granted, it _was_ a big deal and something they didn't want to make false accusations on, so from that perspective it made sense for them to go to him first, but even so, he could tell the situation wasn't quite that severe. His parents looked like they were feeling a loss of control, but they weren't as desperate as they would have been had they picked up on hints of incest.

As usual, his mother was the first to speak up. "Ferb, honey," she said soothingly, "we brought you here because there is something we need to talk to you about. I don't want to make this an accusation or anything, but it _is_ important, and it is important that we know about it." She sighed as her son simply blinked at her. "All right, I'll cut to the chase. Do you know where that bruise on your brother's face comes from?"

Of all the things that she could have asked him, that wasn't the first thing that would have come to Ferb's mind. And yet, now that he considered it, it was only natural. Whereas to him and his siblings, Phineas' bruised cheek was 'just' part of the overarching story of the relationship troubles that had so violently exploded last Saturday, troubles that had now more or less gone away, to his parents, who had no such context and from whom they had been hiding every last detail of their thoughts and feelings, it was the only piece of physical evidence they had that something was going on.

But what could he say? Admitting that he had been the one to punch Phineas would be… well, it would be embarrassing, to say the _least_, not to mention that it would raise plenty of questions in its own right. Their parents might not be the most perceptive of folk, but they were loving and kind people who knew perfectly well that he and Phineas almost always got along. This wasn't just some minor roughhousing between physically expressive siblings. This would be seen as what it had been – an exceptional moment that could only stem from an intense argument. And Lawrence and Linda would want to know what that argument had been about.

Briefly, he considered simply chalking it up to one of his and his brother's inventions. Both because it wasn't out of the question – when he thought about it, Phineas could be a bit oblivious with those things too sometimes – and because his father would accept it as plausible, and his mother had never seemed to bother to follow up whenever either Phineas or Candace spoke about their projects. It wasn't even just Candace's Mysterious Force that kept her from seeing anything, it was also a mindset that gave her a complete lack of interest in the subject. But of course, the problem with that was (aside from the whole 'lying to his parents' thing) that where it might have been easy to dismiss even persistent talk of space travel and running restaurants as childish imagination, the bruise on Phineas' cheek _was_ real. There was no doubt about it. Ferb couldn't just hope for his mother's absent-mindedness to save the day there.

While in his mind, he had been mulling over all those thoughts, all he had projected to the outside world had been another blink. Before he knew it Linda Flynn-Fletcher was sighing, clearly trying to keep from looking wary. "I'm not blaming you for anything, Ferb," she said. "I know you would never want to hurt Phineas." 'Want to hurt', not 'hurt'. Was there any reason she appeared to be suspicious of him rather than of anybody else? "But when we asked Phineas, he wouldn't talk to us about it and started scratching his ear, you know, the way he does." There was a small fond smile on her face. "And you've got to admit that that's out of character. And Candace wasn't very keen on saying anything either, was she Lawrence?"

"No, she certainly wasn't," his father confirmed. "She was quite nervous, in fact. Very protective of Phineas, though, and I'm pretty sure she herself didn't do it. Candace can be… rather aggressive sometimes, but I could tell in an instant that she didn't punch him." He blinked. "Not that I'm saying that you _did_, of course. The first thought that occurred to me was that it might have been someone at school, or some of your friends in the backyard, but your mother pointed out that your siblings were being awfully skittish for something that might have been done by an outsider."

"Yes, exactly," Linda agreed. "You can tell us, Ferb – whatever happened, and whoever did it." She hesitated, a thought occurring to her. "Wait, it wasn't… Isabella, was it? I know there's been some tension between the three of you over the past couple of weeks, and she _can_ be pretty assertive about her crush."

"Oh yes, she can," Lawrence said, nodding. "Of course, even if she did anything, I'm sure she didn't mean to hurt Phineas either. It's just that we want to know. You understand that, right, Ferb? You're a bright lad. We're just trying to help, but for that we need to know what happened."

His parents were beginning to hit home pretty closely now, and Ferb was beginning to worry that if they continued to speculate out loud like this they might be able to come up with the right answers. Well, some of the right answers at least. Phineas and Candace's relationship was probably off limits in that regard because it was simply _so_ farfetched and, to the naked eye, not immediately related to any of the things that had gone down in their living room.

Of course, he wanted to say something that would simultaneously soothe their fears and keep them from going down the path they were currently going down. He _needed_ to say something. As long as he hadn't said anything, they might not be able to outright accuse him of anything (especially as long as Phineas and Candace kept their mouths shut too, and Isabella of course), and it hardly even looked out of character by this point, but he couldn't run the risk of them coming up with something that was close enough to the real answer to worry him. If they found out about him and Isabella… or worse, if they genuinely started believing that poor Isabella was responsible…

…well, the latter would be a disaster, of course. Not only would Isabella be held to blame for something that she hadn't done, it would be something she would have supposedly done to _Phineas_, whom she was just gradually trying to accept as a friend rather than as a boyfriend. Which was a fragile process that might lead to complete alienation if it was disrupted by people who, despite their best intentions, wouldn't know what they were talking about.

The thought of any of that happening to Isabella made Ferb feel uneasy. He… didn't want her to get hurt. Of course, he had never wanted her to get hurt, but she had never been his special area of interest as a friend, and she had been quite able to take care of herself or have Phineas or someone else take care of her _for_ her.

Now, though, it was different. Ferb no longer saw Isabella as a friend or someone he could harbor feelings for if he wanted to – he had feelings for her, period. She was the girl he had fallen for, and although she was still as competent as she had always been, he knew her emotional resilience had been put to the test enough already. Maybe he was being paranoid here, but he couldn't have his parents take their accusations to Isabella. Not on his watch.

Which just left himself, didn't it? Outside of blaming either Buford or Baljeet, and although the former probably wouldn't mind taking the blow (the latter wasn't… exactly _plausible_ as an assailant) even Buford van Stomm might want to know _why_ he was being blamed for something he didn't do. Especially if Ferb would just steer his parents in that direction _now_, without conferring about it first. It might sound like a likely story for someone aware of the bully's 'jerk with a heart of gold' nature, but the idea of getting him involved like this still didn't sit well with the British boy.

So why _didn't_ he just fess up? It wasn't because he was too ashamed of what he'd done – well, he was, but the shame did not weigh on him so heavily to make him unable to admit the truth to the parents who cared about him and his brother. No, he was afraid of the risks. The risks that they would find out about Isabella, and then Phineas and Candace, and…

…how would that happen, exactly?

As his mind churned into that new gear and the first ideas were rapidly rolling off the presses in Ferbland, investigated and then discarded or accepted only to be refined further, Ferb glanced up and analyzed his parents. They were still looking at him, but occasionally whispering things to each other, which stopped only now that they were aware that they had his attention again. He had no idea what kind of theories they could come up with, but he did know that they could lead to a lot more troubles than if he just fessed up and told the truth.

Just not the _whole_ truth, of course.

"I did it," he whispered.

That, if anything, _really_ got them to stop. Lawrence glanced at Linda and back at his son. "Ferb, did you just say that _you_ were the one to punch your brother?" he asked.

"I was," Ferb confirmed, his mind now fully in gear. "Phineas had asked Isabella out to what she presumed to be a date last Saturday night. She continued to flirt with him until he finally noticed, the truth came out, and he turned her down. He didn't realize how deep her emotions ran, though, and although she claimed to be fine when he left her at the restaurant, Isabella was devastated. She asked me to bring her home, we went here, words were exchanged and tempers rose, and I… punched Phineas." Even a few days afterwards, the words still sounded alien in his ears even (or especially) now that he was the one to speak them. "We reconciled almost immediately thereafter, though."

For a moment, his parents were simply silent. Which was hardly surprising, really. Not only had Ferb just spoken for much longer than he usually did, but he had also admitted to them that he had punched Phineas, which was exceptional even _with_ their conciliatory words and the fact that he was standing up for Isabella taken into account. He waited and looked at them as they took it all in and gathered their thoughts, before Linda finally cleared her throat.

"Ferb, I understand that that must have been… traumatizing to go through," she said. "But though I'm not going to blame you for standing up for your friend, you do realize that physically hurting Phineas was taking it way too far, right? You should have told us about it right away. _Phineas_ should have told us right away."

Ferb blinked, as if in confirmation. Under ordinary circumstances, that might have been better, although he couldn't help but think that he and his siblings had worked out their… precarious situation for themselves pretty well. Of course, though, these had not been ordinary circumstances. Phineas' crush on Candace had made sure of that. The whole situation had just been… so tied up in everything. It had only been recently, as the dust had settled, that he'd been able to gain a clear head. Only now that he dared to come clean about last Saturday because he knew it was okay to do so without ruining his siblings' cover.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that his parents were clearly upset with him for hurting Phineas, and that he could hardly blame them for it. Phineas himself was as forgiving as ever, and Candace had had a few days since to get used to the idea and knew the heated circumstances in which that punch had taken place, but it would probably take a bit longer for his parents to come to terms with what he'd done, not just for the act itself, but for the exceptional break it represented with the rest of their sibling relationship.

He must have looked especially solemn, because his father reached out and gently patted his shoulder. "It's all right, Ferb," he said. "As long as you understand what you've done, we're not going to make a big deal about it. But if you ever lose your temper like that again, I'm afraid we're going to have to take measures."

Ferb nodded, and wondered whether they were going to leave it there, but Linda was looking at him with an odd glint in her eyes. His mother _did_ have perceptive moods from time to time, even if she never applied them in the ways Candace would want her to. "You know, Ferb, I'm surprised that you lost your temper over Isabella anyway?" she asked. "Obviously you're all friends, but I never thought that the two of you were _that_ close."

Well, that left him with no way out – not that he particularly desired one at this stage. Ferb gave another nod and paused, wondering how to word his response and almost expecting that either of his parents would say something else. As they didn't, he finally spoke up. "I fell in love with Isabella over the past few months," he said simply. "I kissed her that night and she kissed me back. And now I have a date with her for next Saturday."

Whatever his parents had been expecting to hear, it was probably not that. His mother just stared at him, while his father blinked several times and shook his head. "Well, that's peculiar," he said. "But it _is_ good for you, I guess. Don't worry, Ferb, I'm sure the two of you will have a jolly time."

"It _would_ be their first date, Lawrence," Linda pointed out, sounding rather less relaxed than her husband. "Especially given the fact that Isabella would still have been crushing on Phineas until last Saturday, I'm not sure if that's… wise, exactly. Did you ask her out?" Ferb blinked. "And she agreed?" He blinked again. "Honey, this is up to you and Isabella, of course, and if Phineas isn't interested in her then it's good that you're there to console her. But you're thirteen. I know you two might think you can just start dating and have it all covered, but you really don't."

"Your mother is right, Ferb," Lawrence agreed. "A bit paranoid, perhaps," he got a nudge in the shoulder for that, "but basically correct. Have you, um, thought this through?"

Well, he supposed that he could hardly blame them for asking those questions, if only because he had been wondering the same thing himself several times and, well, it _was_ a good point, especially from a protective parental perspective and from people who didn't know the context of what had happened. Ferb blinked in confirmation, trying to come off as decisive as he could, but then allowed some of his previously contemplated caution to slip into his expression. He was still worried about the whole thing, after all, even after the conversations he had had with his brother and sister. And while his parents might not be as close to the situation as they were, and they would be likely to be affected by their own parental bias, they were people who had established and kept up a successful romantic relationship. If there was anyone he shouldn't refrain from asking advice from, it was them.

"Are you unsure about it?" his father asked. "Do you need advice?" Ferb blinked. "Well, don't worry my boy, we can do that." He moved to sit down next to Ferb, opposite his mother, who was watching the two with a curious look in her eyes but didn't move. "You see, when you're flirting with a girl, you're going to want to be strong. Confident. Cool."

"Lawrence, you couldn't kiss me the first time we went out together, remember?" Linda pointed out. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that he knows that, given everything they went through to reunite Love Händel a few years ago." She gave Ferb a warm smile, which indicated to him that at least the tension from the news that he had punched Phineas was out of the air now.

Ferb's father blushed. "Oh yes, quite so" he said. "Well, Ferb, if you remember that, you'll also remember that I did make my move in the end – even if you probably won't need that encouragement, right? Especially since you said that you _already_ kissed Isabella."

"Indeed, yes," his mother chimed in. "Ferb, honey, if you're really going to do this – well, I'll wish you the best of luck with it, of course. Isabella is a sweet girl, and I've hoped for a while now that she would be happy with one of my sons. I guess I was just wrong about which one it would be." She chuckled to herself, an odd habit of hers when it came to things that weren't actually all that funny. "But you'll want to be kind, and patient, and respectful. If you're trying to go for a serious relationship, you should treat her seriously."

That was, of course, true, although frustratingly it was also something that Ferb had already mostly figured out by himself and through some of the other conversations he'd had. It would be nicer to get to hear something that he hadn't heard yet, a new insight that they might have to offer. (Of course, the problem with listening to advice from his parents would be that once they gave it, they would expect him to take it, and Ferb… well, he wasn't sure if he could _promise_ that. And he certainly didn't think they would be right all the time, not knowing Isabella as he did, not to mention that thinking about what his parents had said when taking Isabella out could be kind of awkward. Still, advice was advice, and he hoped he would get it.)

"But don't overdo it, Ferb," Linda continued. "I know that you can be a bit… dramatic sometimes. But even if you and Isabella want this, like I said earlier, you're not just there to replace Phineas. You two are young. This is your first date. Even if it works out – no, _especially_ if it works out, it's only going to be a small part of your life at first. Even when it seems like it means everything." She patted his shoulder. "Young love is a beautiful thing, Ferb. But don't take it too far. You have your school, you have your friends. Don't get caught up in each other so that you'll burn out before you're truly ready."

"Or even after you're ready," his father said, sounding oddly soft and solemn. "Even when you're an adult, you can still be… too caught-up in your relationship to realize that it's not healthy. That there's not as much depth to it as there should be. That's what happened to me and your biological mother."

Ferb blinked, feeling a sense of shock. He only vaguely remembered his mother, whom his father had divorced when they were very little, and his father never spoke of her. They had moved from England to America in part to get away from the memories of the past, after all. For him to bring her up now, in front of his son, in his current wife's presence no less, meant that what he was trying to impart to his child was important indeed. The tone of the words also indicated that. Lawrence Fletcher was generally a cheerful man, and he was smiling again now, but for a moment there, there had been a bittersweetness to his words that Ferb had rarely heard from him before.

"I will be careful, father," Ferb promised. Was there anything else he could say right now? His parents might sound overly concerned, which meant that he would generally listen politely to what they had to say but mostly keep to his own path, but if there was personal experience involved in the words they were saying… well, that provided him with an impetus to take them more seriously, to say the least.

Slowness. Moving with caution. He would do that, for sure – or he would at least try. And that meant not overwhelming Isabella now, as he had already established, but it would also apply to the rest of their relationship together, if there was going to be one. (After all, he still didn't quite know what Isabella herself expected out of Saturday night. She hadn't cancelled it, which was a good sign, but she might yet do so.)

This was hard. This was serious. He would have to treat this entirely differently from everything he had known before. And yet precisely because of that, he had to take it easy and remember that, as his mother had pointed out to him, they were only thirteen. They still had their whole lives in front of them. The fact that the past couple of weeks had seemed like a cliché romance movie, in which the game of musical chairs that the complex web of relationships in and around their family had become had left him sitting next to Isabella, did not mean that they would automatically have their happily ever after.

A happily ever after. With Isabella. Even as his parents left the room again, satisfied with what they had heard (for now) and realizing that Ferb wasn't going to say anything more, the boy found himself mulling that prospect over. What would it entail? A long-term relationship? Marriage? _Children_?

…all right, he could see his parents' point. He was way too young to consider all that right now, and if he ever mentioned it to Isabella she'd probably run off screaming. Even if she currently wanted to cling to him because he had swooped in and offered his love right after Phineas had dumped her (and that was a big 'if'), something like _that_ would scare off anyone. It was… intriguing, in a way, a possible route for the future, a route of comfort and warmth and love and _Isabella_, but also a burden that weighed on his shoulders the moment he even started to think about it.

And then Ferb blinked again, cleared his mind, and let those thoughts go. There was no relationship. There was certainly no marriage or children. He was thirteen years old, an eighth-grader in Danville's middle school, who in spite of his and his brother's inventions still had a lot of things to learn about how the world worked. There were plenty of things that he still needed to explore, that now – age thirteen, the autumn, or even just Tuesday November twenty-seventh of 2012 – was the right moment for.

He needed to seize the day. Seize the day with regards to Isabella, yes, but certainly not _only_ for Isabella.

Because only when he did not allow what was to come to weigh on him – like Candace once had – could their future truly look bright.


	4. Wednesday (Candace and Buford, Baljeet)

**Author's Note: **_Half-way point. In which Ferb and Isabella gradually move from the question of _whether_ to date to the question of _how _\- a question to which the answer is not so straight-forward as it may seem.  
_

**DAY FOUR**

_ISABELLA_

To Isabella, the world felt somewhat lighter that Wednesday. Four days had passed since the non-date with Phineas had ended first in disaster and then in general strangeness, and since then, she had more or less managed to come to terms with what her life was now like. She was going to try to date Ferb Fletcher. Her mother knew about it, and so did her friends. They accepted it. Supported her. Had given her advice that might come in handy next Saturday, on a date that she was actually kind of looking forward to now.

Of course, that didn't mean she could just relax _entirely_ and act like everything was normal again. She might feel fine now, but talking to Ferb or Phineas still wouldn't leave her at her best. Not for an in-depth conversation, at least. But she could say 'hi' to them without much awkwardness, as she did that Wednesday morning at school. It had been only in passing, and they had just been able to say hello and chat for a moment about which class was up next. That had been almost oddly relaxing, but, well, it hadn't had anything to do with the issues that had gone down between them. They had just been three ordinary middle school students who had known each other for years, and the topics of 'romance', let alone 'Candace', were forgotten.

The encounter had… heartened her somewhat. Isabella hadn't exactly been feeling depressed before, but she _had_ been kind of down, and just casually chatting to her boys showed her how much that casual relationship had always meant to her. It cemented what they had discussed last Saturday, that even though she had _felt_ like her relationship with Phineas was all about her crush, it actually _wasn't_. She could be his friend, too. It wouldn't be easy, and it would take time, but she could manage it. And though Ferb was of course a different question, friendship would remain the basis of that relationship too.

By the time the afternoon arrived, Isabella felt comfortable enough to start giving thoughts to _other_ issues than her own, which was… probably something that was kind of overdue. She had always thought of herself as being a helpful and caring neighbor, looking out for others' welfare, and although overall that impression of herself hadn't been shaken she still knew that she had made her mistakes in dealing with Phineas, never really considering his view on the relationship that turned out to have never existed. Well, no matter. From now on, she was going to do better – and that meant thinking of what Ferb might want or worry about, too.

And as strange as it was to think of Ferb as being anything less than that steady, self-assured figure in the background, the Fireside Girls were right that she had seen him slip up over the past couple of days. If he really was anywhere near as insecure as she was over this whole thing, the fact that he hadn't heard from her about their date since her agreeing on Saturday might well get to him. _He_ had apparently crushed on her for a while now (come to think of it, she really wanted to hear the details on that), but for her, he had only really entered the picture that very night. It wouldn't be strange if he presumed that her agreement to go out with him had been an impulsive decision. Perhaps one that she'd already long forgotten about. (Not to mention that she still wanted to know where they were going.)

No, it would be good to set matters straight. That was what Isabella became more and more convinced of after she went home from school that afternoon – and since she had thought of it too late to speak to Ferb about it there, and her mother wouldn't go to the Flynn-Fletcher house for her because she thought her daughter had to arrange those things for herself, she would just have to go to the Flynn-Fletchers. It was only her best friends' house, after all. It might be a _bit_ daunting after all the things that had just happened, but come on. She had faced _much_ more threatening things over the course of her life than a bit of relationship peril. She'd be just fine.

Isabella kept her mind focused on that thought as she walked over to her neighbors' home that afternoon, steadily walking over the street and then slightly less steadily walking through the gate that lead her into the backyard. As she had been able to discern from the lack of noise coming from that general direction, it was empty. Hardly a surprise, really – it was a week day, not to mention that it was quite cold, and not even Phineas and Ferb could be bothered to work an automatic heating system into _every_ project. Besides, indoor activities could be fun too.

The glass door that looked out on the backyard was open, allowing Isabella to enter the living room. It seemed to be empty as well, although she could hear Phineas' voice coming from upstairs, so…

"Shapiro."

Startled, Isabella sprung around at hearing Candace's voice behind her. She hadn't noticed the other girl when she came in, and it soon turned out that there was a very good reason for that. Candace was sitting on the wall, her legs crossed and a notepad on her lap which she was apparently writing something in. She was looking straight at Isabella, giving her a relatively self-assured expression, as if sitting on a wall was an entirely natural thing to do.

Well, this was the Flynn-Fletcher home, and even though Candace had never been closely involved in her brothers' projects, she was still their sister. So in a way, to her, it _would_ be the natural thing to do.

After being acquainted with Phineas and Ferb for so long, seeing their sister sitting on the wall only really surprised Isabella for a second or so. The main reason of her shock was because she suddenly realized that she was not at all prepared to face the girl she had last seen with her mouth pressed against that of Isabella's crush four days ago. She had certainly _thought_ about the matter a lot in the past couple of days, but now that she was seeing her again Isabella knew she had not come to terms with Phineas' romance with his sister at all. Which was only natural, of course – even people like Phineas and Candace couldn't expect anyone, let alone her, to look upon their… thing with favor – but it did turn her previously lighthearted mood into a tense one.

"Flynn," she grumbled, staring the other girl straight in the eye because she wouldn't do her the pleasure of backing down. Candace was her rival now, the girl that had taken Phineas' heart despite the fact that by virtue of being his sibling by blood she should have been entirely unable to do such a thing.

Why? _Why?_ What in the world did he _see_ in her? What did that obnoxious woman have that she, a nice girl his age who had always been devoted to him, didn't? Even to someone as flighty as Phineas that long-necked, old, constantly shouting tattletale of an older sister of his couldn't possibly be superior to…

…no. No. She couldn't think like this. She had agreed to Phineas that she would try to accept this, and as hard as it would be, Isabella wanted to _keep_ that promise.

Candace was glaring at her, and promise or no, Isabella had no problems with putting her hands in her sides and glaring back. It was a stand-off. An epic clash of wills. The two enemies' eyes were focused on each other, their hands were curled into fists, and their environment was underscored by the sounds of the rough deserts and open plains of the West, the music of heroic cowboys and vigilantes working to make good triumph over evil. This was their confrontation, _the_ confrontation, and Isabella was not going to be intimidated here. It was an all-or-nothing battle, one of total victory or ignoble defeat. Whoever held their gaze the longest would hold all the cards, and it was going to be _her_ who did so. She would not let herself be bested by this no-good, conceited…

…wait, where were those sounds even coming from?

Isabella blinked, drawing her attention away from the clash of wills for one moment as she focused on the steady strings of cowboy music in the background. Candace did the same, grumbling and getting up from the wall before stomping over to the stairs. "_Ferb__!_" she roared, with such volume that Isabella had to plug her ears. "Get away from my banjo and invent your own instrument!" She turned back to the other girl, frowning. "Was that too harsh? I think maybe it was. I'm… still trying to learn how to channel my aggression since I stopped busting, and _that_ definitely wasn't okay, but I can yell at my brother to stay away from my banjo, right?"

"I… guess so?" Isabella meekly replied.

"Good. I'm still catching my balance on this whole thing, but at least I'm learning." There was a brief, satisfied smile on the older girl's face. "I even joined Phineas and Ferb and the others earlier when they were doing their climbing competition across the house, but it still feels kind of weird, and I did have homework to do. Not much, but I figured that I might as well take care of it now and have the rest of the day to myself."

Isabella nodded. "I wouldn't think that you would need to adjust like that," she said, trying very hard not to think about _how_ Candace had become convinced to give up on her age-old busting activities all of a sudden. "You never seemed to be bothered about it when you barged in on Phineas and Ferb's inventions to try to take them down from the inside or whatever – or in those rare cases when you joined us in the backyard."

Candace raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "Well, there's a difference between barging into an invention for busting's sake, or getting carried away because of fun every once in a while, on the _one_ hand, and, on the _other_ hand, accepting that they're here to stay and I'm not going to do anything about it anymore," she replied, speaking in a slightly slower voice than usual as if she thought that Isabella was dimwitted or anything. (Which was rich, coming from the one who thought it was okay to commit _incest_.) "The one, you can justify to yourself… and I was always pretty good at rationalizing stupid things, while the other… well, it's a lot harder. But…" Her voice trailed off somewhat, and her eyes narrowed. "But it's none of your business anyway."

"Well, excuse me for asking then," Isabella snapped back. "I'm not here to listen to _you_ anyway."

"I'm not surprised," Candace said dryly. "Let me guess – you're here for Ferb, right? He told me that he had a thing for you, and that you're going out on Saturday."

"And that's none of _your_ business," Isabella hissed. Seriously, the way just hearing Candace mention her stepbrother's name had made her hairs stand on end… it wasn't like she was embarrassed about Ferb, of course, especially not after her interactions with the Fireside Girls yesterday, but she didn't want to talk about having these fledgling feelings in front of Candace, of all people.

The one who had called her lifelong crush 'a childish pipe dream'.

The one who had taken _everything_ from her.

It had probably always been inevitable that some tension would exist between her and Candace Flynn – it was what a boyfriend's older siblings were _for_, after all. (Well, she'd usually heard about older brothers overprotecting their little sister against their potential suitors, but given Candace's aggressive nature, it would have worked just as well the other way around if she and Phineas had ever started dating.) But instead, what Candace had done had been far more far-reaching than any other older sibling could ever imagine. She had taken Phineas for herself, she had committed _incest_ with him, and, and…

Isabella gritted her teeth and shook her head. She couldn't let herself get riled up at Candace like this. She had promised Phineas that she would try to accept that he and his sister were… a thing now, and she couldn't go back to pursuing Phineas as she once had anyway. She wouldn't do it, even if Ferb hadn't been there – things had just changed too much between them. And with the addition of Ferb… well, that meant that 'Phinbella' was certainly in the past now.

The fact that she could acknowledge all of those things of course did not make reconciling with Candace easy, but she looked up at the other girl in any case. "Look, I can tell that we're not exactly fond of each other right now, but… well, stuff went down last Saturday, but Phineas and I reconciled over it, and I know he and Ferb did too, so can we… stop treating each other like enemies? Okay? Because Phineas is still my friend, and he's your…"

"Boyfriend," Candace smugly replied. She looked absolutely insufferable. Seriously, as incomprehensible as Ferb straight-up punching Phineas in the face had been, Isabella could understand the sentiment right now. The only reason she wasn't wiping the other girl's smile off her face with her fist was the knowledge that as Candace was older and bigger than she was, she would be bound to lose any ensuing fight.

It sure wouldn't make that initial punch any less _satisfying_, though.

As well as she could, Isabella tried to shove down her vindictive feelings. "Whatever," she spat. "You might not want to say that so loudly, in case certain other people find out what you and your brother get up to." That did at least do the job of erasing Candace's smile from her face, and Isabella couldn't help but smile a little at how pale the other girl went. "I don't want to tell anyone – I don't want to talk about _any_ of this. But if you keep raising the issue…"

"Yeah, yeah, point taken," Candace replied bitterly. She was trembling a little, although she was clearly determined not to show it. Which was kind of satisfying, but… they really _were_ acting like they were each other's enemy, weren't they? Isabella sighed. She had to at least try to come to an agreement with the other girl, even if it was just one of 'not showing hatred'. And even though Isabella held the upper hand with the fact that she could expose their relationship, she knew that simple act would be likely to ruin her relationship with Phineas. Not to mention that, given that Candace's words would likely weigh much heavier with Phineas in any case, she _could_ cut off Isabella's friendship with her best friend whenever she wanted to do so. Which meant that reconciliation was in both of their interests, really.

Fortunately, that seemed to be something that Candace was realizing too. The girl still looked disgruntled, but not quite as much as she had before, and Isabella seized her chance. "So, if we could stop arguing now, I'd really like to move on," she said. "I'm not going to keep obsessing over Phineas anyway."

Candace nodded thoughtfully. "No, I guess that given that you're going out with Ferb, that's out of the question now," she said. Isabella wasn't sure whether she sounded relieved. Maybe part of her just _wanted_ Candace to sound relieved, because she wanted to be a threat to be reckoned with to the relationship the girl craved with her younger brother… but really, that was never going to happen. She knew that, now. Phineas was… off the table, because he had somehow fallen for his sister instead of for her, something that she would never understand as long as she lived, but which she still had to cope with.

It was no wonder that she'd never won that 'Understanding Boys' Minds' patch, really.

She shook her head, turning back to Candace. "Is he upstairs?"

"Unless he jumped out of the window in the past couple of minutes, yes," Candace deadpanned. "Which I wouldn't put past him or Phineas, really. What do you want to talk to him about?"

Oh boy, now she was even getting the 'overprotective older sister' act that she'd been spared from with Phineas (albeit for discomforting reasons) over _Ferb_. Isabella rolled her eyes and turned back to the older girl. "I just wanted to tell him that we're still going out next Saturday night," she said. "We were all kinda upset when we agreed on that, and I don't want him to think that it was some impulsive decision that I abandoned right away. I _do_ want to go out with Ferb." She put her hands in her sides again, unable to resist the urge to be sarcastic. "If that's okay with you?"

Candace rolled her eyes. "Yes. Yes it is." She sighed. "I'm not… still mad at you or anything. I mean, _you_ didn't punch Phineas in the face – and at any rate Ferb did apologize for that." She cleared her throat, looking awkwardly uncomfortable. "I… guess that I should kind of say sorry myself, to you, for yelling about your crush being a silly pipe dream? I know I was really mad at you then, but still, that was kinda overboard."

Isabella blinked, surprised to hear Candace talk about something that she had just been thinking about – something that had, indeed, made an impact on her. "Thank you," she murmured. "I… well, I think you said my dream of _marrying_ him was childish, which I suppose it kind of was, in retrospect, in the way I was imagining it at least. I simply wasn't doing anything to achieve that." She shook her head. The last couple of days, it had been as if it should have all been so simple. She should have _known_ to do something more. She should have _known_ that Phineas would have his own opinions. She should have, but she hadn't.

"But… it's going to be different with Ferb, you know?" She awkwardly folded her arms. "I want to give this a try, and be _better_ at this than I was when flirting with Phineas." She looked over at Candace, suddenly feeling a bit awkward about the fact that she was trying to justify herself, despite the flaws that might necessitate such a thing, in front of someone who thought it was okay to date her _brother_. "So, yeah. If it's up to me, Ferb and I are going to give dating a shot."

"At Nick Bunyan's, right?" Candace asked.

Isabella frowned. "Is that what he told you?" she asked, mentally filing the name away. The restaurant that had been named after Paul's lesser-known cousin was a lot like Paul Bunyan's, but at least it wouldn't invoke the same unpleasant memories that going to the other place would have. This was good. She could work with it. "He didn't mention a place the last time we talked, and I hadn't yet had a chance to ask him. But then yeah, I'm down for that for Saturday night."

She moved to walk on towards the stairs just as Candace replied. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that," she said. "He was kinda worried about dating you too."

The younger girl froze halfway and turned around. "He was?" she asked. "What did he say?" She had been _thinking_ that Ferb might be as insecure as she was, but it was one thing to think it and another to hear it. If that was what she was hearing, and Candace didn't mean that Ferb wanted to give up on her? Because he didn't want to date her? No, that probably didn't make any sense.

Candace gave her a bemused smile. "Sit down," she offered, gesturing towards the couch. A couch which it appeared to be all but impossible for her to get to herself, given the fact that she was still walking on walls – but then again, Candace was a Flynn-Fletcher, and within a minute or two Isabella found herself sitting next to the other girl, who had managed to use bookshelves to propel herself to get to the couch. Sure, a close observer could see how she was leaning differently into the couch cushions than a person would for whom normal gravity applied, but she _was_ on there.

"Ferb wanted advice from me," Candace began, "about how to date you. It took me a while to get exactly what he wanted to hear because I've never been good at the whole 'reading his face' thing, but eventually I told him to take things easy and not overwhelm you. You guys are new to this whole thing, after all, and Ferb _can_ be a bit of a show-off."

Isabella nodded. That was a fair enough thing to say, she supposed. "So, how did he react to that?" She raised an eyebrow. "Did he… tell you anything about what he had planned?"

Candace shrugged. "I couldn't really get anything out of him, and honestly, that wasn't my priority at the time. I wanted to help him, but we only really had a brief conversation, and it's not like just because we're both girls that I could tell him how to approach you. Not to mention that if he hasn't told you yet, then it probably isn't something you ought to know anyway." That was… annoying, especially under these circumstances, but fair enough. "But the point here is that he came to me to ask for help with dating you, so he's still clearly interested in that. And I've seen him looking out the window over towards your house once or twice, too."

Isabella leaned back into her seat to reflect on that. That was at least something she didn't know before, then. If it was up to Ferb, their date was still on. That was probably not a surprise, given the fact that the boy had apparently crushed on her for a while now, but after everything she had gone through she couldn't help but feel that it was a bit of a relief at least.

Still, it was kind of meager. "That's all you have for me, huh?" she noted. "Just Ferb… being Ferb. Great. I'm sure that's going to help."

"Well, if you wanted to hear dating advice you should have asked for it" Candace replied. "I can't read minds, you know."

Dating advice – from the girl whose relationship with Jeremy had crashed and burned only a few weeks ago, and who was now trying out a new romance with her own _brother_? Isabella tried very hard not to scoff. "What would you even tell me?" she asked. "I've seen you trying to flirt with Jeremy, and I've got to say that it wasn't very impressive."

"Like you're one to talk, kiddo," Candace said, rolling her eyes. "If you…" She hesitated, and shook her head. "Never mind, I'm not going to argue about this again. You're right, I probably don't have too much to say. I didn't have much to say to Ferb about you either. I never studied either of you too closely over the past couple of years, for obvious reasons." Isabella nodded, trying not to grimace as she thought of just how obsessed Candace had always been with Phineas – the same Phineas who had gone on to see her as girlfriend material. Wait, was it possible that Candace's obsession had been an early indication of those same feelings?

…ugh. She should really stop thinking about this, because somehow she was only making it _worse_. She needed to find a way out of here, not to get in deeper.

"Well, anything would do, really," she found herself saying. "Even if it's not helpful at all, at least the two of us will have had a conversation without hating each other."

Candace nodded. "Fair enough." She shifted in her seat, briefly having to cling onto it for dear life due to the whole gravity distortion thing she was still undergoing. Was she just going to try and bear this all day? As some kind of compensation for having tried to bust her brothers? That sounded… kind of unhealthy. But, well, it wasn't like much of what Candace Flynn was doing right now was very healthy anyway, nor that Isabella cared.

"Ferb is…" she began. "Well, he's someone whom I never thought of as relationship material before? But then again, I never thought about _Phineas_ as relationship material before either, and I could tell you all about him now, so…" She caught the unamused expression in Isabella's eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get on with it. I guess you could describe him as solid. He certainly had his head together a lot more than we did over the past couple of weeks, even if he did punch Phineas in the face that one time. He might be a quiet voice in the background, but when you need him, Ferb will always be there for you."

Isabella nodded, feeling distinctly disappointed. What she had just heard was something that she maybe hadn't _vocalized_ before, but she had certainly known it in one way or another ever since Ferb had picked her up on that night of disaster. "Anything else?" she wanted to know.

Candace raised an eyebrow at her. "I get that you know all that already, but it's still good to know, you know" she said. "Ferb was the first one to pick up on Phineas' feelings," nothing personal but she would punch the other girl if she started going into detail about those feelings, "and he was the one to tell Phineas about them." Hmm. She hadn't known that, and although she knew that she couldn't have asked Ferb to keep concealing this from his more innocent brother and that there was a chance that she would be better off now that still kind of stung as a missed opportunity. "Ferb held him back – I'm not saying that he was always _right_ about that, mind you, just that he was always the sensible voice of caution – and it was only after they got separated from each other due to that argument over your crush that Phineas came up with his idea of winning me back by arranging that date. Which was something Ferb certainly would have been against if he'd known, and although I eventually appreciated it, I know you… didn't."

That was putting it _mildly_, and Isabella knew that Candace was putting it mildly on purpose. "You know, if Ferb's so reliable and perceptive and sensible, maybe _you_ should hook up with him instead," she grumbled. "At least you two wouldn't be blood related."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Candace said, sounding far firmer than she had any right to be. "Look, I know this is crazy, but Phineas makes me feel… happy. At ease. I love him, and that's not going to change."

Isabella gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry, did you perchance miss the part where I _really_ didn't want to hear any of that?"

"You shouldn't have asked for it, then," Candace argued. "But seriously, Isabella… I know everything feels like a big mess right now. It feels the same way to me. But when the puzzle pieces settle, you _can_ have Ferb – and I'm pretty sure that's going to be worth it. Because Ferb doesn't have to be my cup of tea for me to be able to see that he is a nice guy, romantic, helpful, and indeed reliable."

Isabella duly nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I guess so," she muttered. "I still don't know how we're going to get from here to there, though. I've always crushed on Phineas. A future with Ferb is…" Was it unthinkable? Not anymore, no, but it was incredibly abstract, and she didn't want to commit to it just because her old crush had decided to date his _sister_. "…out of reach," she finally lamely finished.

Candace chuckled. "If there's anything you should have learned in all those years that you came here, it's that for my brothers, nothing is ever out of reach," she said, an almost playful tone to her voice. "I used to think that was terrible, but now… well, I've seen how it can be helpful. My brother decided that he was in love with me, and it worked out. After that, nothing is impossible."

"You realize that's not exactly the happiest example you could offer up to me," Isabella replied, trying to suppress her irritation. "To me, if anything, it shows how things could go _wrong_. Even if Ferb and I should decide to start dating now, for all I know something terrible could come along next summer and blow it all out of the water again. Because I know what those summers are like with Phineas and Ferb – they're long and wild and all over the place, and I never minded that as long as I knew that romance-wise, they would at least not make things _worse_ for me, but now?" She sighed. "Committing to Ferb… almost feels like taking a massive risk."

"Everything in life is a massive risk, though," Candace opined. "Dating Phineas or Ferb is no different – heck, if anything, it's more intense, because they've never done anything by halves. You're right that there's a lot of weird stuff in the lives of my brothers that could suddenly affect your relationship with Ferb, next summer or before it, but you can't let all the things that can change in a hundred and four days stop you. That's just stupid. You've got to go out there and face your fears, like I'm doing. And then, even if worst comes to worst and your relationship never goes anywhere, that's just part of normal life and you can pack yourself up again."

"Yeah, right," Isabella scoffed. "I know how well you stick to those rules, Candace."

The other girl blushed. "Well, maybe I didn't _before_," she admitted. "I do _now_, though. That's the point here."

Isabella let out a theatrical sigh. "Okay, I get it. Nothing lasts forever, Ferb is awesome and I should really give him a shot, but who knows how it'll work out. Really, Candace? No offense, but I could have figured out most of that on my own. I just want…" She hesitated. "I'm not sure what I want, actually. I just want to be prepared. To know more about him as I go in there next Saturday. Things that only you could tell me because you live with him."

"What, like about his color toothbrush or something?" Candace replied. "I hope you don't think I'm some sort of expert on my brothers. I'm not. And certainly not on _Ferb_."

"Well, it would certainly help if you at least _tried_ to remember something helpful" Isabella pointed out. "Wasn't that what you were going to do earlier? What you promised me?"

Candace sighed. "I know, I know," she muttered. "But what can I say? Ferb is polite, he's quiet, he's thin, he's tall, he's unpredictable, good at dancing, he snores, he's superstitious…"

"Ferb is superstitious?" Isabella cut in. "Huh. I never noticed that."

The moment she said those words the Fireside Girl knew that Candace was bound to think that she never noticed anything about Ferb before (aside from the obvious stuff) and the deadpan look she got indicated that that was indeed on the other girl's mind. Fortunately, though, Candace didn't dwell on it and just nodded. "Yeah, he is. I don't know why, but, well, he's Ferb. I never pretended that I really understood him – and honestly, I don't think you would need to know every last detail about him either. You can find that out as you go."

"Maybe not every last detail, but I can't just… go in there blind either" Isabella protested. "Candace, I may have known Ferb, but I never really _knew_ him, you know?" It hurt to admit it, to some extent, but she couldn't run away from the facts. "I… spent far too much time paying attention to Phineas for that."

"Whom you didn't know either, before you met him, and you never let _that_ stop you," Candace dryly pointed out. "Look, I know Ferb can come across as… being out there, sometimes. Heck, I once thought that he'd been replaced by an alien, when it turned out that it was just a bunch of misunderstandings, one of my brothers' weird projects, and Ferb being Ferb." Isabella raised an eyebrow, and Candace blushed. "Anyway, but you can't let that hold you back. 'Cause deep down, though Ferb is his own unique person, he's also normal, like every one of us. He's a good guy. Saved my life once or twice, too. He's not _so_ different from Phineas, just… different enough."

"Different enough," Isabella parroted under her breath, not sure and not caring much whether Candace could hear her. She folded her arms, grimacing. "But of course, it turned out that I didn't actually know Phineas either given that he decided to fall in love with you, so from that point of view I don't have _any_ hope with Ferb."

"Yeah, that's how you're going to succeed, by assuming it's not gonna work out," Candace said, rolling her eyes. Isabella tried to suppress her irritation. "Look, kid, if you'll accept any advice from me, then let it be that you can never prepare for things like dating. They just… happen. I always tried and failed to do that with Jeremy, and now with Phineas, I've learned to let go, so why don't you do that, too? Be bold. Tell him what you want to know, or to do. I know you can stand up for yourself when you need to."

Isabella sighed. "Of course I can, but you know what happened the last time I thought I had everything all under control? Phineas rejected me. He… and you…" She gestured with her hand. "You _know_. I don't want to risk losing Ferb, too. Even if he is just as nervous about this as I am, it's still good to be prepared."

Candace shrugged. "Says you. Sometimes you've just got to barge into situations where you don't have it all under control. If you say that you can be confident, then do it. Go for it! Go straight ahead! Let Ferb _know_ that you care about him." She winked. "I mean, that's what I do, and look at where it brought _me_."

"Could you just _stop_ that?" Isabella exclaimed. "I… ugh. I can't stand it. I'll never be able to stand it. I want to accept Phineas as just a friend, but the idea of you… and him… he's your _brother_, Candace! Why would you ever fall in love with your own _brother_!"

The taller girl hesitated, looking slightly vulnerable. "Because… I just did," she said. "Because he's always been there for me, and always will be. I'm not expecting you to understand that, and I think if I'd try to explain it in more detail I would only unnerve you more."

"No kidding," Isabella muttered. "I know by now that I can't expect _Phineas_ to listen to reason on any of this, but – you do know that incest is _wrong_, right?"

"The thought had occurred to me, yes," Candace replied. Isabella wasn't sure whether she was doing this whole snarkiness-thing on purpose or if it was just a defensive habit by now, but either way it was _supremely_ annoying.

"And it hasn't, you know, snapped any sense into you?" she asked.

"If that's what you want to call it, no."

Isabella shook her head with a sigh. Pointless. All of this was absolutely pointless. There was no way she could talk sense into Candace – but, as she had to remind herself time and time again, she didn't even particularly want to or need to do so anymore. She was here for Ferb right now, wasn't she? (Even though, of course, the fact that she was pursuing a relationship of sorts with the other brother now didn't mean that she wasn't still very disturbed by Phineas' bizarre choice of romantic partner.)

"All right," she tried once more. "So what you're basically saying is that I should be forthright with Ferb? Not beat around the bush, just go for it and live with whatever the consequences are?" It sounded like a very silly strategy, but… well, Candace had been hardly shy about expressing her inner feelings around Phineas over the past couple of years, including every single negative one she'd ever felt towards him. And the consequences had been…

…ridiculous. That was the best word for it.

So since Ferb was Phineas' brother, why couldn't she have that ridiculousness work in her _favor_ for a change? She knew how much Ferb was like his brother in the sense that he was bold and confident, and, though in the background, still in command of the situation – so might he, like Phineas, not respond well to someone else showing that she could do just as well on those parameters? To have her surprise _him_, rather than the other way around?

"That's exactly what I'm saying, yes" Candace replied. "Carpe diem, right? It's what they're always claiming to love, Ferb as much as Phineas. If you can do that, you will be fine." She smiled faintly. "Like what they're doing right now, by turning their gravities sideways. It's something that only they could really think of."

Isabella nodded. "And you've got no urges at all to bust them for it?" she said, a mild teasing sentiment slipping into her voice.

"I won't say that," Candace admitted. "It's… weird. It feels wrong not to be calling Mom when my brothers and their friends are walking on walls, but, well, I'll deal with it." She rapidly tapped her fingers on the side of the couch. "I try to be as calm as possible and _not_ think about it, because Phineas deserves it. And it'll be fine! I can do this. I can _totally_ do this."

Isabella nodded, figuring that it was probably better to leave Candace with her illusions. She had never really understood the other girl's desire to bust her brothers, although focused on Phineas as she was she had never really paid attention to it either. It was kind of annoying, but Phineas and Ferb never seemed to be deterred by it, and, well, she had not been willing to let herself be derailed from winning the heart of the love of her life by the fact that his sister was a bit of a weirdo. And although she might not be quite ready to call _Ferb_ 'the love of her life' just yet, the rest had hardly changed now.

Candace was still fidgeting, glancing over at the window. Apparently now that the topic of busting had been raised, the girl couldn't get it out of her mind. And for some reason, she had to keep blathering about it too. "I… just didn't want to be bothered by them, you know?" she spoke up. "To live my own life, in peace. And I couldn't, not when my brothers were building all their crazy stuff in our backyard."

Isabella frowned. "But what about all the quiet projects? Or the ones that they built elsewhere? Phineas and Ferb never went out of their way to disturb you, did they?"

"Well, no," Candace admitted. "But they were still _there_. And they could have started bugging me at some point due to something crazy happening, and I couldn't think about _anything_ but trying to get it to go away so that it _wouldn't_ get that far."

Isabella cleared her throat. "You know, some might call that paranoia." And, at a certain stage, an excuse.

Candace glanced out of the window, away from her. "Some… might be right," she admitted, in a small voice. "I… was… well, it doesn't matter. I was wrong. I thought I was doing right, I thought I was getting back at my brothers for what they were doing to me and bringing it to a stop, but they _weren't_ doing anything to me, or at least, they weren't actively trying, and the only one I was hurting was _me_. It all started so simple, with me just wanting to lead a normal life, away from inventions, but I was running away from something that's in _myself_, too, certainly if Phineas is to be believed. And you can't do that, not if you want to be happy at the same time. But I didn't realize that, I didn't _let_ myself realize that, and it got to the point where I thought I'd be fine if the whole _world_ thought I was crazy – Stacy, Mom, heck, even _Jeremy_ when it came right down to it – as long as my brothers would be busted. Primarily because I thought I'd be able to fix all that, because when my brothers would be busted I would finally have the _ability_ to fix all that, but deep down, if I'd had to choose, my gut would have chosen busting."

She took a deep breath. "And… and my gut was wrong. So, _so_ wrong. Because as annoying as my brothers' inventions might still be, losing everything to get them to stop isn't worth it. Making Phineas and Ferb unhappy isn't worth it. Heck, losing even those inventions themselves may not be worth it. Because… because no matter how long I may have believed otherwise, their creativity _isn't_ bad. It's the best thing about them." She blinked. "You know, I think I've heard that said before. I don't remember who said it. Someone desperate, I think. Never mind. What matters is that I'm going to take it to heart, and that I'm going to try to stop busting, because even if I can deal with the whole world thinking badly of me, calling me crazy and what not – heck, it's not like they don't do that anyway – I've discovered that I can't deal with _Phineas_ thinking that."

She sighed. "But you know what they say – you never know how much you will miss something until you've achieved your life's goal of getting rid of it. Only I never needed to go that far, because of _Phineas_ making me stop and think, and I can only be grateful to him for that."

There they were again with the Phineas-part. It wasn't something that she could ever shut up about, was it? Isabella sighed, wondering how in the world she was ever going to have to deal with this. Maybe she should just avoid meeting Candace ever again. "That's… well, that's something," she said. "But I'm here for your brother, you know, not for being your psychiatrist."

"Well excuse me for trying to honestly answer the questions that _you_ brought up," Candace snapped, unexpectedly vitriolic. "I didn't want to ask your advice on anything, I just… got lost in the memories. This is the first time I've really thought about these things, felt the need to explain myself – not to you, but to myself. And if it's not something you wanted to listen to, then you should have just said so. It's none of your business anyway. Now, is there anything else you wanted to ask? Because I still have homework to do, you know."

Well, that conversation shift had been anything but subtle, and apparently it was time for her to get lost then. Pretty rich from the girl who had just been rambling on and on about everything. Isabella shook her head. "Nah, I'm good," she said. "You've… given me stuff to think about." She eyed the door to the staircase upstairs, wondering whether to seek out Ferb after all. She had been feeling reasonably confident at first, but apparently she needed to summon _more_ confidence – and, well, it would be nice if her first real interaction with Ferb after last Saturday was her catching him off-guard in some way. To show that she wasn't just someone for him to woo, and that she was actually reasonably interested in wooing him right back. She wanted to do that, but she couldn't really do any of it with Phineas, Buford and Baljeet around. Especially Buford would probably ruin everything. He was a nice enough guy, for a bully, but when it came to discussing romantic feelings he had always been kinda annoying.

She wanted to say goodbye to Candace, but just as she was about to do so the older girl's ears perked up and she shot off the couch… tumbling down to the wall about two feet below. Isabella cringed, but Candace didn't even seem to notice, stumbling right back to her feet and all but leaping over towards the window. "It's Mom's car," she whispered, sounding… anxious? Eager? Wistful? She didn't know, really. It was hard to tell.

"Didn't you just explain all the reasons why you weren't going to bu…" Isabella began, but she didn't get a chance as Candace started rambling to herself, pacing back and forth on the wall and completely ignoring the younger girl. "I've got the perfect chance! But I can't… I shouldn't… if I bust them now, Phineas will be so disappointed… but Mom will finally see… their inventions will go away, but I don't want them to go away…"

Rather than watch Candace tear herself apart over the agonizing choice of whether or not to tattle on her own supposed boyfriend, Isabella chose that moment to make a hasty retreat through the back door. It was probably going to end the same way it always had, really, with Candace failing to achieve anything. Of _that_, at least, she had no doubt of it staying the same.

"But surely if their inventions aren't bad, they won't have anything to worry about… but Mom won't understand… then I can make her… but what if I can't, what if _she's_ right… well, then I'd be right to bust, wouldn't I?... but what if Phineas gets upset… I-I can't _betray_ him, not now…"

Isabella rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her. "If you ask me, she needs a _psychiatrist_ more than she needs a relationship with her brother," she muttered. "But no one would ever think to ask me – including Phineas, apparently. Well, if he wants a girl who goes on and on talking to herself while she's all alone to convince herself of a crazy argument, he's welcome to her."

It didn't matter anymore what Phineas wanted, really – because in a romantic sense, Phineas was no longer relevant to her. Because there, things _had_ changed in her life, in a massive way. And maybe even the ways in which she had adapted to that change – blaming herself for stalking Phineas in order to be able to accept him and Candace, or accepting a meeker role in any future relationship with Ferb in order to adjust to the fact that she might end up dating an entirely different person than she'd originally planned to – were in serious need of overhauling.

Candace's advice was good advice, she decided. Maybe… maybe what had happened last Saturday wouldn't mean that she and the other girl needed to be bitter rivals after all. Instead, they would both be trying to date one of the famous Flynn-Fletcher brothers.

And maybe they needed to lean on each other to make a success out of it?

Isabella rapidly shook her head, scrunching her nose in disgust. No, not that. She would not be giving _Candace_ dating advice on _Phineas_. Not just because it was wrong, and because her own forays into dating Phineas had ended up in miserable failure, but because as much of a wreck the other girl could obviously be, she actually seemed to be doing well at that. Well enough to make Phineas and herself happy, at least.

This… was complicated. And every time she had a new conversation, Isabella found that her view of the situation had only gotten even more complicated. It was almost getting too hard to keep track of.

But maybe, just maybe, it would all be worth it in the end.

_FERB_

Compared to his siblings, Ferb thought, he had always been pretty good at picking out patterns.

Granted, that was probably not the fairest comparison. Phineas and Candace had always been… kind of stubborn, in Candace's case, and lost in their own worlds, in both of their cases. Not to mention that he himself had not always been flawless either. He'd never thought Candace's mysterious force theory through until she had come up with it (and he still felt himself being a bit dubious about it from time to time) and he had not realized that Phineas was truly falling in love with Candace. Very often, his own preconceptions or simply being distracted had kept him from seeing things that he should have easily been able to see.

One pattern that he could pick out, though, now that he was paying attention to it at least, was that of the advice he had been getting. Even without meaning to, every day since last Saturday he had ended up having a conversation with someone about the new status quo which had ended in him getting help on how to date Isabella. (It was a pattern that was made much easier to discern because he didn't normally have extended conversations outside of Phineas in the first place.) He still wasn't sure whether they were going to help in the end, but they had been good talks, and that Wednesday Ferb found himself wondering whether another one was going to come by today. Normally, conversations with different people about major things might not 'just happen', but this was _Danville_. It had seen far more contrived coincidences.

He kept an eye out at school, although he was distracted by the fact that he managed to come into direct contact with Isabella herself when she passed him and Phineas on their way to class. She had only a brief conversation with them, which was unusual in its normalcy (even Phineas could see that, though it didn't deter him from being as cheerful as usual) but it was enough to make him take note of her different demeanor. Isabella appeared confident and self-assured. A marked contrast to what she'd looked like before. And yet, she still wasn't seeking them out for a longer conversation…

Ferb didn't want to be paranoid. His sister took up that role in the family, and he only took up the role of the voice of caution when no one else seemed to be available. (Seriously, after their encounters with Klimpaloon and the Inexplicable Giant Floating Baby Head, Ferb didn't know how Phineas could still dismiss the possibility of supernatural threats so easily. Well, no matter. Ferb Fletcher wasn't going to be unprepared when the next werewolf attack would come.) But even so, after seeing the change in Isabella he couldn't help but put two and two together. If she was confident but also staying away from them, didn't it stand to reason that one lead to the other? That she'd given up on him – on _both_ of them – entirely as romantic partners, and thus no longer felt that tension that had been there before as she talked to them as casual acquaintances?

Okay, maybe he was overthinking this. It was Isabella, after all. She might have had her… less than savory traits when it came to romance, but it wouldn't keep her from being straight with him and cancelling their date if that was her intention. Unless she'd forgotten about it for some reason, Ferb had faith that Saturday would remain on for his crush.

Middle school math was as simple as ever that day, but it still provided a welcome distraction from his ordinary life, and as usual Ferb found himself able to sink into it more easily than his brother could (although the latter's cheerful disposition and tendency to find the fun in the driest of material would always keep him from straight-up acting _out_). Working hard also meant that they had less work to do by the time they got home, and it was still relatively early in the afternoon when Phineas, an eager glint in his eyes, suggested that they had time for a quick project today.

It was an offer Ferb didn't usually turn down, and certainly not today. It was still cold outside (and constructing artificial heating for every single project was such a hassle) but Phineas had always had enough 'inside ideas' too, and the gravitation distorter was one of them. The idea of tilting their gravity to make it horizontal was simple, but effective. (Making it vertical was considered, but ultimately dismissed as being too risky in case they wound up outside somehow – Ferb couldn't help but wonder if that hadn't been Candace's voice making itself known, although he figured that if it had been he would have known since that voice wasn't exactly a _soft_ one.) Buford and Baljeet came over, a sixth sense alerting them to when they were building another one of their projects. (Maybe now that Candace wasn't chasing her Mysterious Force anymore, she could turn her eye to _that_ mystery.) The distorter was turned on, and the fun could begin.

The afternoon passed in a blur, like so many had over the past and like so many would over the future. Phineas kept them constantly busy, and Ferb and the others of course contributed plenty of ideas of their own. Sure, maybe the house was a slightly limited space to explore the fun possibilities of altered gravity, but it was big enough for them to enjoy themselves. Even considering the presence of their unusual fifth member of the team – Candace.

Candace being around was hardly abnormal. Candace hanging out with them and enjoying herself with no motive aside from that enjoyment was far, _far_ rarer, and their sister herself was only too aware of that fact. She remained slightly on edge throughout the day, and eventually excused herself to stay downstairs as the others went up again. Which was probably fair enough. Not only did she have to get used to actively trying _not_ to bust them, but she also had to watch out not to let go so much that she would slip up about her and Phineas in front of Buford and Baljeet. Something which Phineas' relaxed nature wasn't exactly helpful with.

There was, of course, always a chance that Phineas would still slip up even now that Candace wasn't around. He tried as hard as he could, and Ferb had to give his brother credit for the way he'd managed to keep the secret thus far, but even so, those things could be hard, and Ferb felt privately relieved that Buford and Baljeet weren't prone to discussing relationships, certainly not now that Isabella wasn't around. They all just hung out in their house-turned-obstacle-course, generally having a good time and relaxing. This was fun. It was _always_ fun, and after the past couple of weeks, it was something Ferb kind of felt that he needed.

But he needed to figure out his relationship with Isabella too, and it was during a break in their games that the circumstances for the advice he'd been expecting on some level aligned themselves. He had just been trying to play Candace's banjo (and gotten chewed out for the effort, as usual) when Buford sat down next to him. "You know," he said, "it just occurred to me – where's Girlie?"

Ferb gave the other boy a curious look and pointed out the window, across the street. Buford frowned. "At home? Huh. Would have figured that she'd have been over here the first chance she got." He shrugged. "I guess she could be busy with her scouts… and it's not like I really _need_ her to be here, of course, but, you know, just thinkin'. She's usually here." There was a deepening frown on his face, and Ferb could see the bully, who could be surprisingly sharp when he wanted to be, putting a few things together. "You know, I haven't seen her around in a while here, ya know? And when I did, it was like she wasn't really as interested as she usually is, even this time o' year. Something the matter with her? Or between you guys?"

At that moment, Ferb figured that he could have easily shrugged and Buford would have taken his non-answer and left without mulling over it any further. These moments of insight came and went for him, after all. But just then, Baljeet came by, cheerfully jumping over the obstacle course they had set out. It would have been a challenging one under ordinary circumstances, but with the gravity alteration it was a piece of cake even for someone who didn't usually excel in athletics, and Baljeet was laughing in delight as he made his way over to them. "Why are you just sitting around like that?" he said. "Come on, there is so much _more_ to do!"

"I was just asking Ferb here a question, nerd," Buford defended himself. Ferb watched their regular banter with some amusement, noticing that Baljeet probably wouldn't have been quite as bold around "his" bully a few years ago. "About Isabella – for _your_ sake, you know, considering how you like her an' all."

Baljeet crossed his arms, looking rather huffy as his cheeks colored. "She is just a good friend, you know," he informed them. "I may have been interested in her as a girl once, but I am quite happy with Ginger right now. Not to mention, even _I_ know that she only has eyes for Phineas."

"Not anymore," Ferb softly interjected.

As he could have expected, his friends immediately turned their heads to stare at him. "Care to repeat that?" Buford asked. "Since when is Isabella no longer mooning over Phineas at every chance she gets?"

Well, that was the million-dollar question, wasn't it? It was going to get out sooner or later, so it was probably for the best for him to tell both of his friends about it now, before Phineas' or Candace's actions could make them suspicious, and where he could control the exact nature of the story they were going to hear. And he had managed to tell his parents enough of the truth to make _them_ happy, so it would be entirely possible to keep them from finding out Phineas and Candace's secret as long as he just said the right things.

"Phineas rejected her," he replied simply. "I comforted her thereafter, and we kissed."

He was met by the blank stares he was kind of expecting. "You kissed Isabella?" Baljeet asked. "After Phineas _rejected_ her? Why should he do a thing like that? What could have brought her to address her feelings anyway?"

"Well, it can be postulated that Isabella's behavior, although familiar to us, would look quite discomforting from the perspective of the person who is afflicted, leading Phineas, once he learned of the true depth of Isabella's feelings for him, to object to her desire for a romantic relationship," Buford said.

"Huh?"

The bully grimaced. "Dinner Bell turned her down 'cause she was annoying, dweeb."

That wasn't… quite an accurate portrayal of what had happened, of course, although Ferb considered that it might well be the best way to explain why Phineas had rejected Isabella without mentioning Candace. (And to be honest, he still couldn't explain even to himself why Phineas would prefer his own sister over their charming and talented next-door neighbor – there was no accounting for taste, after all.) It would at least get Buford off his back, and given how upset Phineas had been at the reveal that Isabella had been hiding a crush on him that everyone else knew about, it wasn't even wrong.

Baljeet shook his head. "Oh, come on!" he exclaimed. "What did she ever do to him? Sure, she was always flirting with him, but so was Ginger with me, and well, I'd take that as a compliment if I were him."

"You're not Phineas, though," Buford pointed out. "_You_ might think it's cool, but he's never really been into that kinda stuff." He shrugged. "Myself, I wouldn't have rejected her either, even if she had been crushin' on me without me knowing – but Phineas? Yeah, I can see it. He's always sharing everything, and he'd want Isabella to do the same, not to keep secrets from him, so if he found out in a particularly bad way…" He turned back to Ferb. "Did he?"

Ferb allowed himself a slight, wistful smile and blinked affirmatively. Phineas _had_, after all, found out in a 'particularly bad way' – learning the truth from his own girlfriend, who hadn't thought it was a big deal, and then hearing that his brother had been concealing the truth as well. That… well, he hadn't thought he'd committed a major transgression then, but looking back he could see how Phineas would have known. It had simply been so much easier not to talk about it, not to explain Isabella's crush in detail, and he'd never consciously thought about hiding it, it had just… happened. Just like it had happened with the truth about Candace's busting. He had been silent, as he always was, and Phineas had – in retrospect, rightly – called him out on it.

Of course, that still didn't compare with what had happened to Isabella when she'd barged in on Phineas and Candace kissing. Ferb grimaced as he thought back at that moment, and wished that he could simply enter into the museum time machine and prevent it from happening somehow. Isabella would never have responded _well_ to that reveal, but this had to have been the worst possible way for her to find out.

"Okay, but that still does not explain why you kissed her," Baljeet protested. "I thought you had a crush on that girl Vanessa?"

"Do any of us need to hear all this?" Buford complained.

"I did not hear you complain back when we talked about _your_ girlfriends," Baljeet pointed out. "Besides, if you really are not interested, you could just walk away."

The bully grimaced, but stayed put, and it was with a smug smirk on his face that Baljeet turned back to Ferb. The British boy couldn't help but ponder on the fact that not only was this the third extended conversation he'd had in a row with someone who wasn't Phineas, but it was also the third one in which he, and his feelings, were at the center of the conversation. Part of him wanted to just blink in response, as he usually did. Either Baljeet would get it, or he wouldn't and leave as quickly as he'd come once his patience had been exhausted, but in any case the conversation would be over and they could move on. There were a lot of aspects of gravity transformation they still hadn't explored, after all, and after a few minutes of sitting down his mind was buzzing with them again.

What was there to say, anyway? How would he explain his switch from Vanessa to Isabella? It had been something that had happened in his brain, of course partly influenced by the physical distance and by Vanessa's gentle but firm rejection, but also by feelings below the surface that he couldn't place so easily (even though he had tried as much as he could). Neither of those were Buford and Baljeet's business in any case. He had been interested in Vanessa, at a certain point he'd started noticing Isabella more and more, he had fallen in love with her, and when he had kissed her she had kissed him back. What more was there to say about it? Nothing, really. Why should he have to defend his actions?

Of course, Ferb knew that it was hardly a _defense_ that he was being expected to mount – Baljeet was just curious, after all. If anyone was going to have to defend herself, it would be Isabella, whose friends would undoubtedly be critical about the fact that she'd upended her lifelong crush on Phineas Flynn just like that. The Fireside Girls had always seemed to be invested in Isabella's crush, if not to the impossible extent that she herself was, and from what Ferb knew of the fairer sex they tended to discuss crushes and get caught up in supporting them a lot. Granted, his knowledge there came from second-hand accounts and rumors so there might well be stereotypes involved, and it wasn't like the energetic, resourceful girls in Isabella's troupe exactly confirmed to the idea of girls locking themselves up in bedrooms for sleepovers to giggle about boys in magazines, but even so it was all too easy to imagine them making a stand in favor of the Phineas-story that Isabella had made so many of their activities involve around. And _if_ all of her girlfriends pointed out that she'd always been attracted to Phineas and not to him, might Isabella not come to think of their kiss as a one-off expression of a foolish idea?

Ferb blinked, coming to his senses. Here he was, getting himself caught up in tangents again for no reason at all, only getting himself worked up while Baljeet was still staring at him. Because right now, he _was_ the center of attention, and the other boy wasn't walking away – or at least, not yet. And given his earlier speculation about seeking advice, that may well be a good thing, even if it did mean spilling his soul out to Baljeet. He _was_ the only one who had a girlfriend out of their friend group, after all. (Well, outside of Phineas, which was… still a strange thought to contemplate.)

"I have always thought Isabella was… attractive," he finally replied, noticing the other boys' eyes snap up as neither of them had obviously been expecting an answer anymore. "When Vanessa rejected me, and Isabella started spending more time with me to get advice for flirting with Phineas, I gradually fell for her. I helped her on that night, I attempted to console her, and now we have a date for next Saturday."

He had recounted the same story multiple times now – verbally, no less – and it still kind of felt like something that had happened to someone else, even as the memories of every detail were clear to him. It was an eerie sensation, but oh well, there was no point in mulling over it. There would be a time for that too, of course, but right now it was time for conversation.

He looked back at Baljeet and Buford, and noticed the latter's face breaking into a grin. "Congrats, Ferb," he said. "I knew you'd pull something like this off sooner or later. Hadn't expected it to be with Isabella, but, well, whadda ya know?"

Baljeet also smiled. "That is very good news, my friend" he said. "I would not have expected Isabella to get over Phineas so quickly either, but these things _do_ happen fast sometimes." Ferb blinked affirmatively. "So, is there anything in particular that you have planned for Saturday? Something especially grand?"

"Maybe with explosives?" Buford suggested. "Explosives are great!"

"Bu-foord!" Baljeet exclaimed, in his familiar long-suffering tone. "Would _you_ bring explosives to a date? Even I know that is a recipe for a romantic failure by now!" He sighed. "Phineas meant well when he was trying to arrange something for Mishti and myself a couple of years ago, but even though she turned out to be entirely normal despite being a girl now, she was still obviously not very impressed by his efforts."

"Wait, didn't that end with the entire ship sinking?" Buford pointed out. "So unless you're wantin' Ferb to do _that_, I can't see why he can't put that technical skill of his to work and give Isabella a good time."

"Because it is a first date, you know" Baljeet argued back. "No one is saying that he should build a ship and sink it – not even Phineas would do such a thing again now – but what you are saying is close enough. Applying explosives on a date can go horrendously wrong, and for a first date in particular Ferb would need something intimate, something special, something safe."

Ferb watched their bickering with bemusement. Both of them were making fair points (although contrary to Baljeet's words, he could easily envision a series of events in some parallel universe in which Phineas' method of asking Candace out _had_ involved him thinking sinking a ship was a good idea because it had 'worked' for Baljeet and Mishti) but they weren't offering immediate solutions for what he _should_ do next Saturday. Baljeet was right that he'd imagined it as a dinner date, given that it _was_ at a public restaurant after all, and that Phineas' usual type of ideas weren't exactly what he had in mind for that. Isabella was special. She needed to be handled with care and decency and gallantry, the gallantry that she had apparently appreciated so much from him last Saturday, and Ferb knew he could be that gentleman. He was at ease being a gentleman.

And yet… and yet, much like Mishti, Isabella being a girl did not mean that she wasn't a normal human being like the rest of them – that she couldn't just be their friend, his friend, whose entire character didn't suddenly change now that she was someone he saw in a romantic light. Hadn't the previous conversations he'd had the past couple of days impressed that on him? Hadn't Phineas been successful in winning over Candace just by being himself? Hadn't Candace told him that Isabella was just a normal girl? That he didn't have to pretend to be perfect because it would only make her nervous?

He could be himself, then. And yes, part of being himself did mean being a gentleman – casually, like the way he had acted around Vanessa, and seriously, because this was going to be an official date. But he was also Ferb Fletcher, technical expert. That was the same Ferb Fletcher Isabella had fallen for, her entirely non-perfect friend and shoulder to cry on, and unless he wanted to present a front for Isabella – like Candace had for Jeremy – that was only going to make both of them miserable, he could and ought to show that side of himself, too.

There were… ideas. Ideas that he could use. Ones that wouldn't ruin the romantic atmosphere of the date, that wouldn't overwhelm Isabella, but ones that would be in line of the expectations she would have of him. Maybe he didn't need to knock her off her feet – maybe he _shouldn't_ do that, especially not for a first date, and certainly not with explosives – but that didn't mean that he couldn't impress her.

He looked up again to see Buford was shaking his head. "All right, all right," he said. "Keep it simple then, if you want to – but don't say I didn't warn ya. It's up to you to figure something out, Ferb – and I wish you good luck with that." He stood up. "And now, I'm done."

"Wait – where are you going?" Baljeet asked, sounding confused.

"I'm heading downstairs," Buford replied. "I'm not done with all this yet, and besides, I've got to see where Phineas went off to. We haven't seen him for a couple o' minutes now. Why should _he_ be having fun around the place while we're just sitting here?"

"You don't _know_ that," Baljeet pointed out. "He could simply be talking to Candace downstairs."

Ferb froze up. Knowing Phineas, that was entirely possible – and although he would expect Candace to know not to tempt the fates while their friends were still in the house with them, it was certainly not impossible that in talking to each other, they had gotten… carried away. After all, from what he'd heard last Saturday, they had been on that couch for a while before he and Isabella had barged in. A complete obsession with each other to the detriment of paying attention to anything else was a well-known characteristic of how romances worked… possibly including his own with Isabella.

Before he could do much to deliberate on his next course of action to prevent Buford from seeing things that he shouldn't be seeing, though, Ferb noticed what his sister would probably call the Mysterious Force sweeping in, in the shape of a small tornado that barged through the open window and swept them up, carrying them down the stairs and into the living room. Another tornado raged through the living room and shattered the gravity distorter, carrying the pieces away with it as the rest of them were blown through the room. Ferb distinctly noticed a glimmer of hope, confusion and dread on his sister's face before the wind suddenly receded and plopped all five of them down on the couch and chairs – him, Phineas and Candace crammed fairly close together on the former, while the others were sitting on chairs next to them. The next moment, their mother's head peeked around the doorway into the living room.

"Hey boys," she greeted. "And Candace. Anyone want pie?"

"Yes," Phineas replied, beaming in a way that suggested that a good time had been had, whether it was because of their invention or because of him hanging out with their sister. "Yes we do."

Their mother left again, and Candace grimaced. "Figures," she muttered. "You know, for a moment there, I was really thinking that you… we wouldn't get away with it this time? But we did. Mom didn't see it." She shook her head, suddenly looking pensive. "You cut it so close, though? I don't think that you ever did so before. Maybe it's because I'm no longer trying to bust you guys that the Force is… waning, in a way?" She leaped to her feet and got a notepad and pen from the table, straining her brain as she scribbled something down. "Let's see, there were approximately three seconds between that tornado letting up and Mom coming in… or should I measure that compared to when your project got destroyed? 'Cause that was a couple of seconds earlier. It was definitely both sooner than normal, though. I should have calculated how fast the Mysterious Force normally acts. Maybe next time, I should use a stopwatch…"

"It would be pretty cool to be able to figure out how our inventions disappear, I guess?" Phineas proposed, awkwardly putting a hand on his sister's shoulder. Ferb raised an eyebrow. "But, well, wouldn't it be more fun to just concentrate on enjoying them until they go away? It's not like Mom finding out about them would really change _that_ much anyway, I think. After all, Dad knows."

"There's always a difference between fathers and mothers, though," Candace argued. "I know… or at least, I have always known… that Mom would step up if she found out about what you guys were doing." She sighed, her shoulders slumped and she gave her younger brother a slightly saddened look and a wry smile, which he responded to with a more comforting smile. (The way they both none too subtly glanced in Baljeet and Buford's direction suggested that they would have done more than that had they been alone.) "Maybe I was wrong, though. Like I was wrong about… so many things, really." She attempted to smile more optimistically this time. "We'll just have to wait and see, I guess."

"Did you just say that you stopped busting your brothers?" Baljeet questioned. "That is new."

Ferb glanced over towards his sister, whose face twitched a little before she blinked and tried to reply as nonchalantly as she could. "Yeah, well, I was really getting too old for that," she said, pointedly not looking either of the boys in the face as her eyes trailed all over the room. "It was stupid, right? Trying to bust my brothers. What they're up to here isn't any of my business, and I have far more important things to do. Grown-up things, you know. Just spending all the time focusing on what these twerps were doing was really lame, and, well, sometimes, their stuff is kinda cool? Tagging along today was worthwhile, at least." She shrugged. "But, seriously, it's none of _you_ guys' business anyway."

Buford blinked. "Eh, whatever floats your boat," he replied, grabbing Baljeet by the shoulder and pushing him along as he walked out of the room. "Come on, nerd, let's get some pie."

Ferb caught Phineas looking after their friends, and practically the moment they were gone (if not before that) his face broke into a bright smile as he turned towards Candace. "That was awesome, Candace," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "I don't think I could have not slipped up about us when trying to explain all that, but you did it." His face reddened a bit. "I mean, maybe I'm exaggerating now, and I know you're not perfect, but you're so much cooler in the face of danger than I am."

As usual, Phineas was being wildly overoptimistic, and although Candace had to at least appreciate that trait to some extent in order to have fallen for him Ferb still wasn't surprised to see her turn to their brother with a wary expression on her face. "I'm not, Phineas," she said slowly. "I really am not. I… those were your dorky friends, it shouldn't even have mattered so much what they would think, and yet I clammed up and I could barely get the words out. I mean, I am trying to quit busting, busting both of you guys, and though it's obviously related to what happened between you and me it also isn't, it's just me seeing how stupid I was. Stopping is just like what a lot of older siblings my age do, although they usually don't have to fall in love with their own brother to come to their senses." She shook her head. "And yet, when I try to explain, _that_ is all that I can think about, and I may have gotten away with it now because it's just Buford and Baljeet and they're hardly the brightest bulbs in the marquee, but what if someone else comes along? Like Mom and Dad, or Jenny, or…" She shook her head. "I'm going to slip up at some point. I just know it."

Phineas sighed, and Ferb watched as a transformation went over his brother's face from the cheerful, easy-going, casual guy he normally was to the strong caring and desire to help that he had seen far more often over the past couple of days. Phineas had always been helpful, but he hadn't always realized just how difficult giving help could be, and that as a loving boyfriend, more was expected from him than a one-off pep talk. "Candace…" he said, hesitantly. "I know this is hard for you. It's hard for both of us. But I know you can do this. You've pulled off so many great things, and let's face it, you are better at this than I am. Even if you only _look_ confident… well, that's half the battle, isn't it? If you can look and sound confident, people won't question you. Why would they ever think something was up?"

Candace sighed. "That's just the thing, though," she said. "I don't look confident – maybe to you, but, well, you do kind of see me through rose-tinted glasses." She smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "To everyone else, though, I know I'm a total wreck, and I know that's only going to make things worse but there is no way I can't be one, not when this is on the line." She shuffled closer towards Phineas, who put an arm around her. "I'm not going to leave you, I know how stupid that would be and I don't _want_ to be just siblings again, but you can't ignore that this is going to be one heck of a ride for the both of us. Especially now that at the same time, I'm trying to quit busting and finding… finding my place in this world. In _your_ world."

"Well, yeah," Phineas replied with a smile. "Of course it'll be difficult for you to stop busting, and you know I'll help you with that when you need me to. And I know it'll be a long ride for us to deal with keeping our relationship a secret, too – I've known it from the start, maybe not as much as you have, but I'm learning now. But you know what _also_ features long rides? Rollercoasters. And rollercoasters are _awesome_."

Their sister good-naturedly rolled her eyes and nudged his side. "I don't think you can compare secret romances to rollercoasters, Phineas."

Though even Phineas was chuckling at the nature of the comparison he'd made, he still looked into Candace's eyes with an unflinching smile. "Can't you?" he argued. "Why not? Really, sis. If we just keep trying to _do_ this, together, what's the worst that could happen? Stacy knows, Ferb knows, Isabella knows… and none of them have done anything against us."

"They could wake up one morning and decide that we're both disgusting and turn us into the police," Candace grimly murmured. She then chuckled to herself and shook her head. "I… I know that's not likely, Phineas. And I don't suppose they'd have anything on us anyway, at this stage? But Mom and Dad… I don't want them to find out about us. They're… they're parents." She awkwardly gestured with her hands. "It's different. I know it is. And something's going to happen sooner or later."

Phineas frowned. "Well, Mom has never seen our projects" he pointed out. "Why would this be any different?"

"Because this time it's me, and I'm never lucky?" Candace deadpanned. "I know what you mean, though. It's just… something that we can't be certain about, and it's going to keep freaking me out and I'm going to stay nervous about it, and maybe that's what'll ruin us."

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Phineas said cheerfully, pressing their sister's hand. "We just need to be watchful. That's the best way to ensure nothing happens, right? If we're on top of this thing."

"I guess," Candace replied, putting her head in her hands. "I know you're right, but it's just – ugh. Hard."

As usual, Ferb had been quietly watching on the sidelines for the whole of the conversation, ready to jump in if either of his siblings needed him (and to jump out if they got entirely too intimate for his liking). Although after the past couple of weeks he certainly didn't want to denigrate Phineas and Candace's competence and resilience, he couldn't help but agree with his sister that it would be extraordinarily difficult for the both of them to keep the secret. It made him feel partially responsible, given that he had not told Phineas off when his brother first gained his crush, and it made it easier for him to also wreck his brain to find something he _could_ help them with. And he believed that he had found it.

"What about Irving?" he asked.

Candace's head swiveled towards him – he wouldn't be surprised if she'd forgotten he was in the room – looking confused. "Irving? What do you me- oh no." She groaned, turning back to their other brother. "Remember when we were at that dance where... we had that argument? And how we talked about Irving and his cameras?"

"I think I do, yeah?" Phineas replied. He caught the worried look in his girlfriend's eyes and blinked, composing himself. "Well, I don't think there's any reason to panic there – I mean, even if he does know, he hasn't done anything with it yet – if he had, someone would have confronted us, wouldn't they? And no one has."

Candace rapidly shook her head. "You don't know that, Phineas," she stressed. "Maybe he did tell our parents, or someone else, but they've been sounding us out? Maybe… maybe he took it to the Fireside Girls? Because he likes them, and because they can use it as blackmail against Isabella? Maybe…"

Ferb was tempted to intervene as Candace's voice rose to an ever higher pitch while the scare stories spouted from her brain, but before he could do anything his brother stepped up to the task. "Candace, you're panicking," Phineas said, sounding unexpectedly firm as he took both of her hands. He was still looking as if he wasn't sure how to handle her problems, but he was clearly forcing it down for their sister's sake. "Look – we don't know if any of that has happened, okay? And I've got to say that a lot of the things you mentioned sound kind of farfetched to me. I don't think any of the Fireside Girls would ever blackmail Isabella over us – how does that even make sense?" He smiled awkwardly. "Don't worry. If you're so worried about Irving – and I understand why you are, and I know that he could know about us and tell on us – well, then we'll just have to go to him and see what he knows."

"Yeah, right," Candace replied with a slight scoff. "What if… okay, maybe I am overreacting here, but what if he doesn't know? Do you really think that either of us would be able to sound him out without giving the whole game away?" She shook her head. "I know I'm never going to be able to ask him whether he saw anything weird at our house over the past couple of months without making him suspicious, and no offense, bro, but you're not going to do any better."

Phineas smiled. "Yeah, you're right there" he said. "Still, it's an option, right? You wanted us to do something, and, well, this is something."

Ferb blinked at them, the gears in his head starting to churn. Candace was right that Irving was a potential problem for them – one that they had all apparently forgotten about over the course of the hectic last couple of weeks. She also had a point that flat-out going up there and asking him if he had seen her relationship with Phineas was very likely to backfire. Or at least, it would for her.

But if _he_ went there… well, Ferb wasn't going to claim that he was flawless, but he knew he would be able to probe Irving. Not to mention that he'd have a conversation subject in store that he could use as a fallback in case the other boy got too close to the truth – Isabella. It might be a little… extreme to ask Irving questions about Isabella, but at least Irving wasn't spying on her the way he was on him and Phineas, right? The fact that they were tolerating Irving's unusual behavior made Ferb feel that he was entirely entitled to probe about what Irving knew about the girl from across the street. It was no different than what he had done with Buford and Baljeet this afternoon, and Irving would be bound to have something to say.

"I'll go," he said, startling his siblings. Candace looked at Phineas and back at him, a faint smile on her face.

"You'd do that?" she asked. Ferb wondered whether she thought that he felt he had to do that in order to compensate for punching Phineas and thus heal the rift that had been there between them. It wouldn't be a strange thing to wonder – although the moment didn't exactly haunt his thoughts, it wasn't something he had been very proud of, and if there was any way in which he could help Phineas, he would. With regards to his siblings' romantic relationship, which he initially hadn't been extremely enthusiastic about… well, in for a penny, in for a pound, as they said in the old country.

He blinked in confirmation, and Candace smiled. "Thanks, Ferb," she said. "I… we really appreciate that." She paused. "You know, if it's anything I can do for _you_ – I just spoke to Isabella. She came over to talk to you and reassure you that your date is still on for Saturday."

Her stepbrother blinked, feeling surprised. That was something that he had not seen coming, although he supposed that it wasn't out of the question. He had told himself that there was no reason to panic about Isabella, right? That she wasn't about to give up on him, because she _had_ willingly agreed to go out with him, without him pushing her in any way – kind of like the way Phineas had initially talked Candace into going out with _him_? (Not that he held that against his brother, of course – different romances required different solutions, and incest was probably at the top of the list when it came to being different. It wasn't like Phineas had been _pushy_ with their sister, after all.)

But as logical as all of that sounded, Ferb couldn't help but feel more surprised than he should have at the fact that Isabella had confirmed their date was still on. This… this was going to happen. In a few days' time, he was going out with a girl, trying to enter a serious relationship that might well change the course of their lives. He was learning about her, she was learning about him, if the fact that she'd known better than he did how much he needed her reassurance was any indication… this was happening. At the risk of getting overdramatic and overstating the case again, it _was_ a pretty big deal.

Which made it all the more useful for him to go and visit Irving. To… probe. To try to figure things out. Not the kind of intimate facts that Irving probably knew about _him_, and not to use it against her, but to gain a better insight into the character of Isabella Garcia-Shapiro.

Of course, Phineas hadn't drawn all those deep conclusions from Candace's words. Which was probably a good thing, given how much people like he and Candace _needed_ someone with Phineas' lighthearted levelheadedness sometimes. "You see?" he said, beaming. "I told you guys. It's all going to be fine. You and I will be together, Ferb will be with Isabella, and there's nothing to be worried about. Sure, there are questions, but we have the answers! We can _get_ the answers, at least, and when we do, we can solve eve-"

"Kids?"

The sound of their mother's voice abruptly cut Phineas off, and all three of them looked over towards the doorway to see Linda standing there, pushing the door in and looking slightly distracted. "Are you three coming, or what? The pie's getting colder."

Phineas recovered first, because of course he would. "Sorry, mom," he said. "We'll be right there."

"Great." Their mother walked off again, and as Ferb turned his head he found that it was almost funny to see the paralysis leave Candace's face as she breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"That… was close enough," she muttered. She gave her boyfriend a wry look. "Nothing to be worried about, right?"

"Since it's obvious that Mom was too late to hear us talk about dating? Nothing at all," Phineas teased back. Candace dramatically rolled her eyes and nudged him in the side as they stood up and walked off towards the living room, Phineas going ahead, with Ferb and Candace trailing behind.

Candace was not as optimistic about the whole situation as Phineas was, of course. But an aside glance at the expression on her face told Ferb that – surprisingly, perhaps – it could have been a _lot_ worse. Usually, their sister would have launched into the same kind of panicked ramble that she'd done when one of their inventions was on the verge of disappearing… or even like she had done just a few minutes ago. But there was none of that there now. Candace wasn't happy, and she obviously didn't entirely agree with Phineas' assessment, but she was still oddly relaxed. Sarcastic, rather than panicked. Deadpan, rather than worked up. Affectionately teasing, rather than shouting.

Phineas was overly optimistic, and both of them knew it. And yet Candace, who had firmly embraced her new life as her brother's girlfriend now, was confident enough to put her faith in him. _Candace_, of all people. And oddly enough, after every near-failure that had turned out all right over the past couple of weeks, Ferb felt compelled to do the same.

Because maybe this time, things really _would_ be all right.


	5. Thursday (Irving)

**Author's Note: **_The week is nearing its end, and with it this story - though we're not there yet. Certainly not for Ferb and Isabella.  
_

_Although I tried to keep it original, I feel like some elements from DoublyToxicWaste's Irving-themed chapter in All The Things That Can Change in a Hundred and Four Days have slipped into this chapter. So I'll give credit here to that, because the story deserves it. _

**DAY FIVE**

_ISABELLA_

On the fifth day of that week, two days before the big date, Isabella at first barely spent any time thinking about the Flynn-Fletchers at all.

It was really weird once she _did_ stop to think about it, because she'd been so obsessed with her neighbors for a long time now (and really, who could blame her, given the circumstances). But maybe it was only natural. She had had conversations with lots of people, getting advice on what to do for Saturday, and every time she had talked about Ferb and defended her new relationship with him, she'd felt more and more confident that this was what she wanted to do. And finally, she had translated that confidence into going over to the Flynn-Fletcher home to talk to Ferb himself. Sure, she hadn't _actually_ spoken to him, but she had asked Candace to transmit the message that they were on for Saturday. Now all she had to do was relax, and wait.

As a result of that, school was oddly normal – even more so than it had been the previous days. She did see Ferb and Phineas, and this time they even had to do a science project together. As usual Phineas took the lead, while Ferb and Isabella assisted him. It was heartening to see his enthusiasm in action as if nothing had ever happened, and the two of them shared several looks about it. They didn't speak, but they didn't _need_ to speak. That was how Isabella saw it, at least, and given Ferb's usual mentality, she doubted he felt any differently.

Paradoxically, it was only after she'd left her boys behind that she was reminded again of the fact that their relationship wasn't quite as it had always been, at the behest of her girlfriends walking along with her. Ginger and Milly wanted to hear all the details, of which there were surprisingly few, especially given how many of them involved yesterday's conversation with Candace which she couldn't actually tell them all that much about. They wanted to know what her plans were for Saturday, and when she thought about it she knew that she didn't really _have_ much of a plan… but yet, did she have to have one? It was Ferb, after all. He was the one taking the lead in this (even if she'd probably have to be the one to do things like confirm their reservation to the restaurant staff… though she'd seen him achieve the oddest things by blinking sometimes) and for now, Isabella was content to let _him_ surprise _her_. She didn't want to get too carried away right away, after all. That was one thing she'd learned by now. They didn't want to overwhelm each other and 'burn out' right away.

Still, the girls' words stuck in her mind. She had to do something for Ferb, something small, not because his love for her would depend on it or anything overdramatic like that, but just a small gesture of appreciation, of punching her weight in their relationship right from the start. Of reassuring him that this was a mutual thing.

And that was something that talking to Candace _hadn't_ been very helpful with yesterday. Knowing things like the fact that Ferb was superstitious would probably come in handy in the future, but they weren't insanely practical right now. She could go back and talk to the other girl again, but not only did she not want to do that if she didn't have to, but Candace would probably only know things like, say, Ferb's favorite birthday presents. Not something smaller, something that Ferb would appreciate as a sign of interest and reciprocity, something romantic…

Isabella sighed. Was it possible to find something like that out without going straight to the source? Asking Phineas for anything about romance was the worst idea for all sorts of reasons, after all, and she wasn't going to ask Ferb's _parents_. And there was no one around who would know Ferb that intimately…

…except…

What if there was someone who did know Ferb's deepest desires? The inner workings of his heart?

…no, not Vanessa. _Irving_.

Yes, Irving would know things that no one else would know or even think of finding out. But precisely that fact made the idea of going to Irving, of all people, for information on Ferb feel slightly uncomfortable. Even though he wasn't quite as obsessive anymore as he had been a few years ago, and he'd managed to fit in well with their friend group, there was still something different about him compared to the rest of them. Because, even though he had become a good and reliable friend, someone whom she had shown kindness to and who had been kind to her and the others in return, he… still stalked Phineas and Ferb. He still had those cameras, those overviews of just about everything Phineas and Ferb were up to, and even though he was clearly on more casual terms with the boys than he had once been, it was _also_ clear that he hadn't let go of that, not entirely.

But then again, could she really blame him? That desire to watch someone you admired… well, how was that any different from what _she'd_ been doing? Isabella felt that inner voice in the back of her mind accusing her of stalking again, and although she wanted to tell it 'no', and she knew she'd never quite done the same kinds of things that Irving had, she could not and would not deny that her mindset had been pretty unhealthy.

And maybe that was what made her feel uncomfortable? The similarities between herself and Irving – and how she felt that if she went to him and asked for the information that he'd obtained only through spying on Phineas and Ferb, she would be going right back to the same mistakes she'd made with obsessing over Phineas, only this time with Ferb.

And _that_ was something she wanted to avoid at all cost.

That afternoon, Isabella let herself spend an hour or two just mulling it over, weighing the pros and cons. In the end, though, her optimistic mindset won out. She couldn't let herself be depressed by self-doubt. Irving, as weird as he might be, was still a friend, someone whom she wouldn't cast out, and neither would she cast _herself_ out for going to him. A short conversation with him would be harmless – and even if it did lead to anything, wouldn't Ferb catch on? He was Ferb, after all. He'd correct her, if she was wrong, and he would know what she'd done in any case. She wouldn't be doing stuff behind his back, like she had done with Phineas for far too long. It was _fine_.

Almost on impulse, she set off for Irving's house. It was late in the afternoon, getting close to dinner time, but there was probably still enough of an opportunity to talk to him before then. She didn't know how late Irving usually ate anyway. She'd never even been over to his house, as she recalled? Oh well. There was a first time for everything. At least she knew where to go.

As Isabella walked up to the Du Bois front porch, she'd formulated a solid plan. She'd ask Irving for advice on what Ferb might like for a gift. Given that explaining to him that it was for a first date would probably be awkward, because Irving would want to know all about it, she would try to avoid bringing that up, and if it _was_ brought up, she'd stay short and to the point. She didn't want to have to explain every last detail… including how _Candace_ played into the whole thing. The fact that it was almost dinner time would come in handy for that, because she could tell him that she had to go again soon. It might be a little unfair to come to Irving expecting information and offering none in return, but really, these were things that she _couldn't_ tell him about, and that he could well find out through his cameras anyway. It was fine.

And then the door opened, and she found herself face to face with Ferb Fletcher.

Isabella's eyes widened, as she stared at her… crush? Boyfriend? Future boyfr- she didn't _know_, okay? She didn't know what he was to her, and it wasn't important right now – what was important was that they were both clearly feeling intensely awkward right now. While she felt her cheeks flushing red and couldn't help but stammer some vague syllables, Ferb's eyes had widened and he had taken a step back into the house, standing next to Irving who was still awkwardly holding the door open. He blinked rapidly, his arm reaching out towards the wall.

This was the first time she had seen Ferb Fletcher alone – well, not technically alone, but close enough anyway – since they'd agreed to start dating, and Isabella found herself at a loss for words. But even though her mind was focused on the fact that he'd caught her being here at Irving's, she still managed to catch that _he_ was acting differently too. He… he wasn't normally here either, was he? Why would he be here?

Would he be here… for _her_?

No, that was unlikely. Ferb… well, he wasn't perfect, but he wouldn't need Irving's help to get information about her, or to know how to give her the perfect romantic surprise. As appealing as it might be to assume that her purpose here mirrored her own, Isabella couldn't help but think that it probably wasn't true.

They stared at each other for what felt like forever, although in reality it was probably no more than a couple of seconds, before Ferb cleared his throat. "Isabella," he said, his voice sounding much the same as it normally did. Then again, one of Ferb's most obvious features _was_ his stability. If he was truly on edge beneath all that, she likely wouldn't be able to tell.

"Ferb," she greeted him back.

Both of them still seemed disinclined to say anything to each other, and so Irving stepped up. "Well, that was nice," he said, as awkwardly as he would. "Do say hi to Phineas, Ferb. It was awesome that you came over."

Isabella couldn't help but smile at how a hint of excitement still dropped into his voice at that – which confirmed her suspicion that Ferb coming over wasn't a regular thing. Or did it? Because Irving would probably be excited anyway… oh well, it didn't matter. She looked after Ferb as he awkwardly greeted her and walked off. Her eyes remained on him as he set off into the distance.

Yes, his composure had mostly remained intact there. Most of what she had seen was the boy she had always known. Silent, enigmatic, mysterious. He was still a mystery, as he'd always been, and that was his main appeal… but more and more, she was beginning to see that there were cracks, that he was just a normal boy underneath, who also did imperfect things and sometimes needed help.

Ferb Fletcher was one of the most perceptive and self-confident thirteen-year-old boys that Isabella knew. But in the end, he was still a flawed, very human thirteen-year-old boy.

And honestly, that was only making him _more_ appealing.

It took Irving clearing his throat to snap Isabella out of her reverie, and she turned back to her second best bet at figuring out what Ferb had been doing there. (If not her _actual_ best bet, given Ferb's untalkative nature and the fact that he would probably be the person most capable of keeping a secret out of everyone she knew.)

"Would you like to come inside?" he asked. "If you're here to see me, that is." It sounded like he was covering his bases, but Isabella belatedly noticed that he also sounded kind of confident that she _was_, in fact, there to see him. Or maybe she just got that idea from him for no reason at all.

She was feeling a little confused right now, okay? Ferb's presence did that to her now. That… that was a thing, a thing that… she didn't need to explain or justify.

"Yes," she replied, "yes I am."

"All right, so come along then!" Irving replied cheerfully, preceding her into the house. She followed him up a staircase and through a hall that she presumed lead to his bedroom… and the moment she entered, she was sure of it.

Isabella wasn't exactly sure what surprised her about Irving's bedroom. She knew who he was, after all. She had heard him gush about his obsession, she had caught glimpses of his photo albums. Entering into a room where the walls were decorated with pictures of Phineas and Ferb should have been par for the course… and yet, the whole normalcy that he'd managed to exude over the past year had managed to make her forget just how weird he truly still was.

Irving himself, of course, seemed to be utterly unperturbed at her reaction, offering her a seat – which she took almost unthinkingly – as he leaned back into the chair at his desk. He appeared almost relaxed, but there was a broad grin on his face nevertheless. "So!" he proclaimed. "That was something else." Almost as if noticing her for the first time he leaned forward, a thrill of excitement in his eyes. "As is this, of course. So, what are you doing here? Wait, wait, don't tell me. I can guess this, I know I can. It's about Ferb, right?" Isabella duly nodded. "Well, duh, of course it is, I can do better than that. The only other person you could have come for is Phineas, and obviously _that's_ out of the question now – or me, I guess, but I wouldn't know what for. You're here… because you want to ask me for help in figuring out Ferb's character for your date, right?"

Isabella blinked, taken aback. This torrent of words was beyond even Irving's usual enthusiasm – beyond _Phineas'_, even. There was only one thing there that she could focus on, though – his comment that Phineas was out of the question. There was only one reason why he should say that. "You know?" she asked. "About… her?"

There was no need for them to discuss who she was talking about. Irving rolled his eyes. "Well, of _course_ I know," he said. "This wasn't something I would have missed, you know. Phineas and Candace weren't exactly subtle – and even if they had been, there are the back-up cameras that I have for…"

"Yeah, okay, I get it" Isabella said, holding up her hand. "If you know _everything_, then you also know that I already got an eyeful of _that_, and I don't need to hear or see any more about it."

Irving gave her an odd look. "Fair enough," he replied. "I guess this isn't as exciting for everyone else as it is for me." He grinned again. "You know, it's been a while since I really felt the same old enthusiasm about looking at the cameras? About looking at Phineas and Ferb, I mean – there's just been so many things to also see around Danville, and Albert told me that maybe I shouldn't spy on them, for some reason?" He shrugged. "But when I did catch what was going on... it was so different and exciting, and yet so quintessentially Phineas, and then Ferb too, and now Ferb's actually come over to _my_ house, and you're here, and not only is this really happening, but I'll have my own role in helping it along." He shrugged. "Which is too bad in _one_ way, because I had this whole story already made up of how Phineas and Ferb's romances would happen, but oh well, truth is better than fiction anyway."

If his previous statements had sounded off to Isabella, that… one was probably even _more_ off. She cleared her throat. "So, about Ferb?" she asked. "I've asked other people before, but the Fireside Girls made me realize that I want to do something special, something he'll remember, and I don't know what."

Irving looked back at her pensively, putting his fist under his chin. "Good question?" he replied. "I can't say I would know off-hand what Ferb would like either… unless… let me see…" He activated his computer and rapidly started typing away at it. Isabella tried to see what he was doing, but she couldn't make out much of it except for pictures and documents, for both of which the two seconds her gaze lingered on them was enough to assure her that she'd never want to see them again.

Camera footage appeared on screen, and Irving started to skim through it. Isabella was _going_ to keep her eyes turned away – ordinarily she would have felt slightly uncomfortable but yet secretly intrigued by getting to see what went on inside the Flynn-Fletcher household when she wasn't there, but now the memory of what she'd barged in on last Saturday was simply way too strong – but Irving caught her doing that and turned towards her. "Can you help me look?" he asked. "I know it was this one time when Ferb logged on to _his_ computer after he'd just come out of the shower."

Isabella blinked. "That's… okay?" she asked. The thought of seeing Ferb… she… well… they were both _thirteen_, for crying out loud.

But surely there wouldn't be anything too weird to see on those pictures, would there? Ferb would probably just be wearing a towel, and, well, it wasn't like she'd never seen him wearing nothing but swim trunks before. It wasn't like Irving would have camera footage of their _bathroom_. What would he even need it for?

…this was rapidly becoming one of those questions where none of the possible answers were good.

She didn't say anything else, and Irving seemed to ignore her as he continued fast-forwarding. Isabella dared to look up, and saw footage of Phineas and Ferb's bedroom, time-stamped last week. Nothing too outrageous, then. She noticed Ferb coming in and sitting down, followed only a few minutes later by Phineas. Although the footage was in flash-forward, it was obvious that the two brothers only greeted each other briefly before going on with their own business.

"Oh, wait," Irving's voice cut in, "that's not it. Hang on." He switched to a different camera of a different room, and after a few accelerations and decelerations brought the forwarding to a halt. Ferb was sitting at his computer, as Irving had pointed out, and he was talking to someone – Isabella thought that she recognized the voice as being of one of his British cousins, although she wouldn't be able to pinpoint which one. "Are you sure you lost it here?" the voice was saying. "We haven't been able to find a novelization of the sequel of the movie of Stumbleberry Finkbat II anywhere." He sighed. "No offense, Ferb, but if you were so fond of it, you really should have paid more attention to where you put it."

"It was a remake of the novelization," Ferb said. "Please keep looking."

"All right then, cuz," the voice replied. "We'll keep you informed. Cheerio!"

Irving shook his head and forwarded the recording again, zipping through several scenes of nothing happening in the room. Isabella wondered again whether every single room of the Flynn-Fletcher house contained these cameras. She'd never really paid attention before, but…

"Found it!" Irving called out. He focused his eyes on the screen. "Oh wait, no. I'm not actually sure this is it."

Isabella leaned forwards again and saw Ferb behind his computer, working on a blueprint for a… rocket launcher, of sorts? She glanced over at Irving, who reversed the footage again, finally stopping at a rather similar scene. In this one, what she could see on screen was neither a blueprint nor a human, but a visual of a sunset. She wondered whether Irving would go on, but he didn't.

"That's it?" she asked. "Just… Ferb watching a sunset? With information about a sunset?" She looked more carefully and saw her boyfriend-but-not-really-boyfriend-because-they-weren't-really-date-dating-and-this-was-old-footage-so-he-definitely-hadn't-been-her-boyfriend-at-the-time scroll down to what appeared to just be a lot of statistics. This wasn't exactly the kind of information she'd come here for.

"Well, no," Irving replied. "Well, I guess it _kind_ of is, but there's more to it, you see?" He pointed at the screen's version of Ferb. "You see that longing look in his eyes?" Isabella peered closely as Irving froze the screen again and had to admit that there was an expression in Ferb's eyes that could be described as such, although it could also easily be seen as just heightened interest. Was there a difference, anyway? "Ferb is into solar eclipses and stuff. The conventional kind – not just the ones that he and Phineas would be able to orchestrate easily. And I happen to know that one of them is coming up next Saturday."

"So… your idea is just to have me take Ferb to a spot to watch the eclipse?" Isabella asked. It sounded far too easy and far too obvious.

"Um… I guess so?" Irving said. He looked awkward about it for all of one moment, but then he forged on as if nothing had happened and he'd just come up with the most brilliant idea ever. "You see, Phineas likely won't go up there with him. Too boring. There's a certain quiet, romantic atmosphere about watching those things that has never really been Phineas' kind of thing… although I guess that with Candace involved, that could be changing? But I remember hearing him complain about not understanding it two weeks ago, on tape 343-B, although the audio was a little unclear because he was brushing his teeth at the time."

"I…see," Isabella said, for it was all that she could really say.

"Good! So you'll understand that if _you_ go up there with him, you could be able to surprise him, maybe by getting the Fireside Girls involved, and it'll be just great." Irving beamed again. "It's going to be perfect, and Ferb will be really happy."

Isabella nodded slowly. "You… you really think so?"

"Of course!" Irving frowned. "Okay, so I can tell you're a bit doubtful about the plan, and I get that, you'd want this to be just perfect and you don't want to bet on just whatever I'm offering… I mean, if you want something else, something that'll make you stand out and praise your creativity so that he will know how much you appreciate him, you could go for something British instead?"

"Something British?" Isabella repeated.

"Yeah – because it's his home country, right?" Irving replied. "I mean, he doesn't talk about it that much – well, I guess he doesn't talk about _anything_ that much – but that's just the kind of thing that in all stories would be meaningful to the hero, something he's never mentioned to his sidekicks but that secretly drove him all along. So maybe you could get him something… some kind of a sign… and bring it on your date."

"I'm _not_ inviting the Queen to our date," Isabella pointed out. They'd had her over for the All-Terrain Vehicle, and that was nice enough, but romantic dates, even first ones (_especially_ first ones) were something else altogether. "I doubt that would be necessary."

"Okay, well, it's up to you." Irving shrugged. "If you would prefer just having evidence about the him liking eclipses thing, I can give you that instead." He fiddled with the computer again. "I know I have some audio recording of him mentioning it… somewhere… hold on, it was this one time he sneaked away, so I'm not sure if it's something that you should actually know. Maybe he'll tell you anyway, and then you'll be able to say that you already got it from me? No, that doesn't work." He shook his head. "There's… something around here somewhere… maybe during that time he worked out?" He turned to Isabella and offered her what he must have presumed to be a reassuring smile. "There wasn't anything improper involved, if that's what you were thinking – he was wearing his shirt at the time, you know, the one that's up there against the wall of my closet."

Isabella suddenly decided that you know, she really didn't care to watch every last detail about what Ferb had been up to in the past and what Irving knew about it. She'd come here to find out stuff about her new boyfriend… but there was such a thing as knowing too much. "Thanks, Irving," she said softly. "That's… this is really enough."

Irving shrugged. "Okay, if you say so. Really, if Ferb isn't happy, you'll know. He's always been quite sarcastic when faced with something he didn't like."

That sounded unfamiliar to Isabella (but then again, so had the snoring, and the superstition, and she really was learning new stuff all over the place here). "Ferb is sarcastic?" She could see that, yes, but she hadn't really imagined it before, and a nasty fear of him smoothly and snarkily rejecting her efforts for Saturday settled into her head. He wouldn't do that, of course, she knew, but even so…

"Oh, yeah, he certainly is," Irving replied. "Especially when it gets in the way of something special that _he's_ trying to do or say – I think there was this one time a few years back, when I'd only just started hanging out with you… wasn't it the day with the anti-romance rockets? Ferb said something that he probably thought was really deep, and then I said something, and he was irritated at my correction. It was something about love. Love and reverse-engineering. I can look it up for you right now – just let me get my July files of that summer… there are a lot from that period, because I was so excited about for once being in front of the camera with Phineas and Ferb when they were actually awake…"

"You know what, I think I really ought to head home?" Isabella spoke up, trying to sound smooth. "It's dinner time, and we're having tacos."

Irving nodded, apparently too distracted by the scenes he was watching to take his eyes off the screen. "With refried beans, right?"

"…right."

"All right then, I hope that I was able to help." Irving grinned again. "Oh, and could you please ask your parents to oil that gate of yours? The squeaks are really messing up my audio feed from the camera that covers the immediate surrounding area of the Flynn-Fletcher home."

Isabella duly nodded, feeling hardly surprised at this stage. "Of course."

"Great," Irving said. "See you around, then!"

Isabella waited a moment to see whether he would show her out, before deciding that she really didn't particularly want him to. She got out of Irving's room, rapidly headed down the stairs, and came to a halt a few steps away from the pathway that lead to the Du Bois house.

That had been… different from what she'd been expecting, although in retrospect Isabella didn't know _why_ she hadn't been expecting to hear just this – a lot of weird and awkward stuff and no actual help. Irving was nice and polite, but he was _still_ really strange even by Danville's standards, and the kind of things that he caught on his camera might have the potential to help her, but Isabella had no intention of sifting through every last detail of them to know for sure.

And thus, what she had walked away with was a vague plan about a solar eclipse. It wasn't the most brilliant thing she'd ever heard, but then again, maybe it didn't really need to be? After all, this was a first date. Ferb was probably going to take care of most of the details at their restaurant outing, because he was Ferb. She didn't need to dazzle him – he was Ferb Fletcher, so she wasn't sure that she could ever do that – she just needed to surprise him, to show him and to prove to herself that she was punching her weight in this new relationship they were attempting to construct.

So maybe Irving's idea, though not great, was just about good enough to work. It did fit in with the parameters she had come up with, after all – something that he wouldn't be expecting her to do, because it was about something that few other people knew about him and that other people in his life, like Phineas or his parents or even Candace, hadn't done for him before. Something that he would remember. And granted, Ferb might have a pretty good idea of what she was doing after she had bumped into him at Irving's earlier, but he couldn't know, now could he? Nor could she know what he had come up with.

Huh. Maybe she should have pressed Irving harder about that. It would be nice to know what she was in for on Saturday night – presuming that that was something they had discussed, of course.

Oh well. Saturday night was only two days away, so she would find out in due time. In the meantime, she had her own preparations to make, preparations that she wanted to focus on. If they all went right, she'd show that British boy that he wasn't the only one who could dazzle the world with his coolness.

She worked her ideas out over dinner, and right after it was over, she went upstairs to her bedroom and took her cell phone.

"Girls?" she asked. "There's something I'd like you to help me with arranging for next Saturday night."

She paused.

"Make that two somethings."

_FERB_

Ferb had not been expecting to run into Isabella at Irving's place.

In the morning, he had assumed that the day would end up being fairly straight-forward. It was Thursday, with only two days to go until his date with Isabella, which was a limited time frame but not so limited that he couldn't get it off his mind. It would be a school day, a fairly busy day without a project, although even the mild irritation that not being able to invent something – or at least not on the scale that he and Phineas would like, which meant that it really wasn't worth the effort – sometimes caused was staved off by the science project he was shepherded into. That was… simple, but still fun. Normal, by the standards of an autumn day. The only complication that appeared to be on the horizon was his conversation with Irving, but he was fairly sure that he would be able to manage that, and after the pattern he had managed to spot over the past couple of days he couldn't help but _feel_, somewhere in his bones, that the mere fact that he'd be talking to Irving would mean that he wouldn't be having any other major conversations today.

Of course, that depended on whether one counted the fact that he and Phineas had worked together with _Isabella_ at their science project. It was the longest amount of time they had spent together since last week, but it was also nothing out of the ordinary, in part thanks to Phineas being his optimistic, chatterbox self. It was almost as if he felt that either nothing significant had happened over the past week, or as if his new relationship with Candace and his knowledge of Isabella's crush were so _normal_ to him that they weren't worth dancing around, because life went on as usual in spite of them.

Ferb envied that trait in his brother sometimes.

But even though neither Ferb nor Isabella relaxed quite to Phineas' level, they did get along pretty much as they usually did. It was easy to do with their mutual friend taking the lead so much, of course, but Ferb felt that even without Phineas' permanent presence, they would have been able to work together quite comfortably, keeping their minds focused on what they were doing rather than what they needed to talk about. Because they did need to talk, of course, just… not right now. Not out in the open.

Not yet.

There had been only a few deviancies from this new normal that he had spotted in Isabella, like when she occasionally caught his eyes for longer than she usually did – or when she was speaking and clearly addressing both him _and_ Phineas, or just him alone, in ways that she never did before. She faltered a little here and there, nothing much, just minor moments that let him know that she was aware of their changed relationship even as the world proceeded apace. Part of him yearned to ask her why she had come over to see Candace yesterday, but he knew that he had to be patient with this.

Their relationship… was different. It was going to be different, if it was going to be a thing. And yet, it would also be normal, because they _had_ known each other for a long time, they had been friends for a while. They wouldn't be starting a relationship from scratch, they would be building something – an additional layer, as it were, to what was already there. It was a bizarre thought, because part of him still felt that everything should be different, like it had been different with Vanessa…

…and yet, maybe that was exactly why it shouldn't be. Because crushing on Vanessa had been him trying to do something fundamentally different than he normally did. Come to think of it, in a way it had been kind of comparable to how Candace crushing on Jeremy had involved her putting up a front for him. But he wasn't putting up a front for _Isabella_, just like Candace wasn't putting up a front for Phineas. They could be themselves here, changing things from their pre-existing relationship into a more conventional romance only _gradually_, with a level of continuity that would never stop feeling weird when he thought about it.

And yet, maybe that was the only way in which change – any change – could work. If there was no chance of relapsing to the old ways, because the old ways had disappeared so gradually that no one even realized that they were gone.

Ferb had already told himself all of that before, and he _knew_ that in doing so, he was still getting ahead of himself. First things first, and that meant dealing with Irving. After he and Phineas went home from school, he'd left his brother behind in their bedroom and walked back down the stairs, exchanging a look with Candace as he walked by. She looked anxious, knowing what he was about to do, but she managed a nervous yet sincere smile along with a thumbs-up. She was nervous, but she knew this was necessary, and thus she was willing to go along with this even as it went out of her control, and the tiny possibility of him exposing her secret came into being.

Baby steps.

He made his way over to Irving's house somewhere around four in the afternoon, and contemplated as he rang the doorbell that he'd never really been here before. Even after having known Irving for two years, he and Phineas hadn't developed the same kind of friendship that they had built up with Isabella, Baljeet or even Buford. Irving was often _present_, but he still kept at least some distance, and when he didn't he would always come to them rather than the other way around.

Before he could waste too many thoughts on the reasons for that, the door swung open, revealing Irving standing on the other side. He was clearly surprised at seeing Ferb but quickly recomposed himself. "Ferb!" he exclaimed. "It's so cool to see you come over! Please, come in!" His grin abruptly faded. "Wait, you've never been here before… is something wrong?"

Well, there were plenty of ways to answer that one, depending on whether you would consider the possibility that Irving had caught onto Phineas and Candace's illicit activities as something going wrong. It probably was, and even though Ferb was confident that Irving wouldn't spill the secret he still wasn't going to bring it up out of his own accord. Thus, he blinked, and Irving eventually realized that no other answer was forthcoming and moved out of the way to let him inside. "All right, so we'll have to go to my room because _Albert_ came over and made a mess in the living room with all his gadgets – I don't know why he doesn't just stick to his old room." Apparently that rivalry was still alive and well, then. "It's… okay, it's maybe a bit chaotic there as well, but just sit down and you won't notice a thing, I promise." Ferb could see the grin re-emerge on his face. "This is just so awesome!"

As Ferb entered Irving's room, he could see that 'a bit chaotic' was an apt description. There were pictures of Phineas and himself filling the walls, which was hardly surprising knowing their fanboy, but on Irving's bed he could see the old UPAFDS tablet and there were several stacks of papers and pictures on the floor and scattered over Irving's desk. A brief glance at them told him that they had not, unlike the pictures on the wall, been around forever. There was no dust on them, the images (most of them taken in their backyard) looked blurry but recent, given the ages of the people on them and the fact that they were wearing autumn clothing. They were also stacked in a very haphazard way, indicating that they'd just been casually thrown there and giving another point in favor of their presence being recent. And, of course, there was the fact that when Irving spotted Ferb looking at them, he rapidly bent down and scooped them up.

Interesting.

"Sit down!" the other boy said. "Can I get you anything to drink? I know we should still have your favorite around somewhere, exactly for this kind of occasion!" Ferb politely held up his hand at that surprisingly unsurprising news. "Okay, then we'll just sit here, that'll be fun too." Irving sat down opposite him, his eyes sparking with excitement. That was arguably a good thing – for as much as their fanboy's activities could get unnerving sometimes, and even though his current mood would make it only more likely that he would want to know every last detail about Phineas and Candace, it also meant that he would be happy enough to go along with anything that Ferb proposed to him. And it wasn't like Irving normally shared every last detail he had found out about his heroes with the world, either. In fact, that could be a place where Irving's nature could be _helpful_ – few people would be eager to listen to him talk about his discoveries, and would cut him off long before finding out that what he knew about Phineas and Candace was something that they would _want_ to know.

While Ferb sat there, mulling things over, Irving stared at him with another broad grin on his face. "So, what are you guys planning to do next Saturday?" he asked. "Is it cool? I bet it will be. I haven't really looked at either of your sketchbooks for months now," Ferb mentally noted that he really had to get a lock for his nightstand, "but, well, that's because I've been so busy with other things that I just haven't been able to dedicate as much time to following what you and your brother were doing. I'm still a big fan, of course, and it's awesome, but I do have my own life to lead, you know? But recently, I have been redeveloping an interest, so if there is something that you could tell me about your upcoming projects, that would be great. We've always had so much fun with them."

There was it – or at least, there was _something_. Redeveloping an interest. If Irving had mentioned that he simply hadn't watched them in a while, then Ferb could have reasonably assumed that he had not caught onto the secret his siblings were trying to conceal. The camera footage would still be there, probably, but there were… ways to remove that compromising evidence before Irving Du Bois would get to see it. And even if he had simply never let up on spying on him and Phineas, then he could have easily missed Phineas' new romantic relationship and all the other things that had gone down in their lives. That chance was… probably limited, given the _amount_ of cameras that Ferb knew Irving had, but it was a possibility.

But instead, Irving had said that his active interest in the comings and goings at the Flynn-Fletcher residence had waned, but that it had reemerged recently. And what was there to catch anyone's attention if not Phineas kissing his own sister? Certainly, he hadn't _seen_ concrete evidence of that on the papers Irving had snatched so rapidly out of his sight just now, but Ferb knew that their inventions had not been anything out of the ordinary over the past couple of weeks and months (by their standards, at least). Granted, Irving could just have gotten more interested again for unrelated reasons – Ferb was reminded of his brother and sister, whose interests in any subject could come and go over a matter of minutes sometimes – but that would seem to be too much of a coincidence. At the very least, it was a question worth exploring.

"Redeveloping an interest?" he repeated.

Irving, who had started rambling about just how cool and awesome Phineas and Ferb were again (which Ferb couldn't blame him for – they _were_ pretty cool) abruptly snapped towards him, and his face reddened slightly. Interesting. "Yeah?" he asked. "Well, you know how it is, there's school, there's all the movies that came out last summer, and, well, I haven't always had the time. But you guys _are_ still really awesome, and you did have that waterslide a couple of weeks back? And that hamster wheel, and the marathon, and, well, I know, it's only been one or two projects a week now, but I'd sort of forgotten how cool they were to watch, so it really got me into it again."

That was the excuse he had been expecting – but in a way, it still felt hollow and unconvincing, and Ferb was sure that it wasn't all there was. He raised an eyebrow and nudged his head in the direction of his house.

"Well… yes, I _did_ come over, didn't I?" Irving defensively stammered. "Last month, I believe. Once or twice, at least. But… well, I was busy? No, that's stupid, I already said that." He hastily covered up his mouth. "I mean… I _was_ busy, but there were also lots of things that I just preferred watching from here, because, um, the view! The view is a lot better." He folded his arms and tried to look confident, regaining a bit of composure. "There are a lot of the projects you made which just look _really_ cool from up high."

Ferb blinked at that, and Irving grimaced. "Okay, so maybe not _all_ of them do, and it is usually more interesting to see your inventions up-close and participate in them, and I know none of that has ever stopped me before, but… well, I didn't want to intervene? Because of you guys' privacy, and all." That was probably the most convincing part of the story despite it being very unconvincing overall, because Ferb mused that Irving probably _would_ be the kind of guy who set extremely arbitrary standards for which part of his spying on them was perfectly okay and which part was unacceptable. "I just… didn't want to be a bother, and I didn't fit in. Not after all this time, I mean. I mean, I had been away for a long time."

Ferb just stared at him for a while and blinked again, and Irving nodded with a sigh. "I know, I know. I know you guys would have accepted me back, but it was just… different this time, okay? There was… well, there were reasons for why I preferred to watch at home, because there was more to see from home. There's some stuff that I had seen, and I don't know if I can tell you, okay? I just don't know. It's… not my thing to tell."

"And not mine to know?" Ferb asked quietly.

"Well, yes… no… I mean, maybe?" Irving threw up his arms in defeat. "It's about your brother and sister, and, well, I don't know if you know this. I didn't want to tell you anything if you didn't, but…"

He looked into Ferb's eyes.

"…but you do, don't you?" The spark was back in his eyes, a thrill of excitement coming to his voice in spite of how defeated and pushed into a corner he had just appeared to be. "You know about your siblings' relationship. Of course you do. You're Ferb Fletcher – there's no way you _wouldn't_ know."

Ferb nodded, and that was all that Irving needed. "It's so great!" he exclaimed. "So original! Not that you guys were ever predictable in any way, that's what I always loved about you, but Phineas falling in love with his own sister? And her returning his feelings? I always knew that he wasn't just going to fall for Isabella just because of her massive crush on him, and I was proven right – although I could never have expected this! I've been beating myself up over the past couple of weeks because the _signs_ were always there, you know? How he was always building projects for her, always comforting her, always kind to her… I've never been much of a romantic, so maybe that's why I didn't pay active attention to it – and, of course, it's incest. But it's so _cool_! _Everything_ has been shaken up over at your place, exactly like Phineas always did best – and then there's you, of course, you and Isabella, and how you swooped in to comfort her as a knight in shining armor after she was crushing on Phineas and you on that girl Vanessa for so long, and…"

For the most of Irving's rant, Ferb had just stared at him, taken aback by the intensity of the boy's enthusiasm. He had anticipated that Irving might have a different reaction to his siblings' relationship than everyone else did or would, but the sheer joy that he saw radiating from their friend…ly acquaintance was something else entirely. However, Irving's mention of his relationship with Isabella snapped him back to attention, and he stared at the other boy so intensely that even Irving fell silent in response to it.

"Well, that's true, isn't it?" he said. "I have noticed how you were acting around Isabella, it… well, I suppose I can't exactly be sure? But there is some footage from last Saturday night in which the two of you are together, and you appeared to be joined at the hip, so I just _assumed_ that something was up between you two. That you were banding together because Phineas and Candace were banding together, and that was cool and not something I would have ever expected either, and I was hoping you'd be able to tell me the full story?" The other boy hesitated, sounding tentative. "Of course, if you absolutely don't _want_ to do that, you don't have to. I mean, you are Ferb. If you suddenly started talking a lot, you would lose what made you you. _That's_ not the Ferb Fletcher I've always been a fanboy of." He almost sounded indignant about it.

Ferb mulled that over. There had been something odd and unexpected about the fact that Irving had known about Isabella even without him bringing her up. He was used to Irving spying on Phineas' activities, even Phineas' more unusual activities, and on his own projects and jackets and whatnot… but his _love life_? Ferb supposed that he hadn't exactly made a conscious effort to hide it all, particularly not more recently, but it still felt strange that the part of his mind that he had spent so much time worrying about was _real_ enough that Irving had seen it.

"If you should wish to hear a full story, you should ask Phineas and Candace themselves, and as long as you don't do anything with those tapes, they will be happy to provide it," he said. "As for me, there is no full story – not yet, anyway."

Irving blinked. "No full story?" he repeated. "You mean, you do have something going on with Isabella – but you haven't asked her out yet?" Ferb blinked. "No, no, I know that's not it. You've asked her out, but you haven't gone on a date with her yet, right?" He grinned. "I guess I could help you with that – if you want me to, of course! I don't want to push you just because getting you and Isabella together could help me win that betting pool. It was with myself anyway, so it's not like it's _that_ important. But I could tell you some stuff that she'd like for a date – I mean, we've all heard her going on and on about it when it came to Phineas, but only one of us ever owned a camera that could meticulously record what she was saying, even when she thought no one could hear her, and that's me. I don't have everything, but there ought to be something."

That was a fair point (if… a little creepy, although that probably came inevitably with going to Irving for help), and Ferb watched on as Irving activated the computer screen and started browsing through an endless collage of photographs and film material that went by so fast that he couldn't identify any of it. Finally, his acquaintance settled on a piece of video. As it started playing, Ferb could see Isabella from behind, staring wistfully into the distance after Phineas. His brother was just walking off with Ferb himself, looking backwards for a moment to give Isabella one of his classic friendly yet oh-so-oblivious waves. In part, watching it stung even more now that he had realized his own feelings for the girl, because how could Phineas not see… how could he possibly not realize how amazing Isabella was and could be for him…

…and yet, he knew perfectly well why Phineas had never noticed Isabella, even if he still couldn't understand it. (Which was okay, given that love was irrational and any attempted explanation by either his brother or his sister would likely soon delve into things that he could still go his entire life without knowing.) And he knew that without Phineas ignoring her feelings, she would have never noticed him, and he wouldn't have been here right now, trying to plan for his _own_ date with the girl from across the street.

"Oh, Phineas…" screen-Isabella said quietly (or maybe the audio quality was bad). "Why can't you just see? Every day I keep hoping that of course you'll notice this time, that you would have to notice me, because I'm right here and how could you ignore me? And then you'll smile at me and say that of course you always noticed me, and that you'll make up for it by surprising me with a romantic gesture that will blow me away…"

"Isabella," screen-Gretchen said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You can't just stand here pining all day."

"I know, girls," Isabella replied, sounding frustrated. "But it's hard to always dream those dreams and realize that today still isn't the day they're coming true."

"They will one day, though," Katie assured her. "One day your dream boyfriend will wake up and embrace you, Isabella. You just wait and see."

"I know, I know," Isabella said good-naturedly, and Ferb felt another pang in his chest. "One day. One day he'll blow me away by picking me up with his fancy ride with romantic music playing, and sweep me away to far-away lands… or just to the restaurant down the block. I'm not picky. Anything will be good. Just him being there will make it perfect."

"Of course, Isabella," Gretchen agreed, patting her on the shoulder. "It'll happen. You just have to show patience. You didn't win that patience patch for nothing, after all."

They steered the distraught girl off-screen, and their conversation soon became too soft for Ferb or Irving to hear. The green-haired boy looked over to his friend, who was smiling. "Well, what do you think? Of course, she was talking about Phineas at the time, but it's still a concrete indication of what she might like for you to do. I wish I had more, but the Fireside Girls keep removing the cameras I installed at the lodge and after what happened last time I didn't dare to go back in and try to put them in place again. Not to mention that I've always been _your_ fan boy, not theirs, and you're not over there that often." He shrugged apologetically. "I never looked that closely at Isabella, even when she was talking about Phineas, so maybe there is a lot of footage on tape of her talking about romance, or even specifically about you, and I've just forgotten about it. I do think there was this one time she sang about being okay with going to the dentist as long as it was with Phineas, but I don't think I could find that one anywhere right now. Do you want me to keep looking? Or make a dentist appointment for you?"

Ferb considered that for a moment and then shook his head. Irving was right, there was little point in obsessively poring over Isabella's life if things like this – things that he would have broadly already known or could have suspected – was all that they were going to find. Oh well. He'd had to try.

He noticed that Irving seemed to be upset at not having been able to help – for all of the other boy's eccentricities, including the lock of hair that he was trying very hard not to think of at the moment, he _did_ mean well – so he gave him a small smile that was clearly enough to make Irving's day. "Well, I'm glad to have helped, in any way that I could," he said. "Will you keep me posted on what happens with you and Isabella?" Ferb tried very hard not to look uncomfortable at that question that he really didn't know what to do with, but thankfully his friendly acquaintance proceeded anyway. "Oh, and as for your brother and sister…"

There was a grin on his face that technically shouldn't have been creepy but which was still unnerving. Had he ever checked whether or not Irving was allergic to garlic? "Tell them that I'm all okay with what they're doing, and that I'll make sure no one ever sees my videos. But I – I want to know the story. The whole story." He wistfully stared into the horizon, and then apparently noticed Ferb's discomfort. "Oh, come on! I _need_ to know, to figure out whether he whisked her away to the moon or not – I think I saw some indications of that, but I wasn't sure, although I could show you my theories if you want me to? I've got it all worked out in this spreadsheet." Ferb politely declined with another shake of his head. "That's too bad. Oh, and Candace's break-up with Jeremy – I can't figure out whether that was because of her feelings for Phineas, because of him finding out _about_ her feelings for Phineas, or if Phineas intervened in any way to set it up… well, I guess he wouldn't, it's not in his character, but it's all so new and exciting! And just think that I was half-considering quitting watching you altogether when I was trying to catch up on your latest inventions and spotted Phineas and Candace kissing in the tree house? Just imagine! I was running a week behind and I was flash-forwarding through most of it, and then I flash-forwarded too fast and I wasn't sure if the project was gone yet, and there they were, making out with each other? It blew my _mind_! Isn't it amazing? I can show you the moment if you want me to, it'll just take a second…"

Ferb abruptly stood up, holding up his hand in what he hoped was a polite way to decline Irving's offer. He had just about seen enough of the boy's… unique take on showing interest in other people's lives, for today at least. He gestured that he had to go, and registered that Irving's face fell at that news.

"Well, suit yourself," he said. "I guess you guys are still very busy? And you're still planning for Isabella. Feel free to drop by any time, though, just like I do with you! And don't forget to ask your siblings to come over – or I can drop by over there. Any time. I'll just grab my notebook and I'll be on my way."

The British boy really tried not to let his unease show this time and blinked, before turning around and heading down the hallway. Irving was hot on his tail, chattering casually as they made their way back to the front door. Ferb opened it, and…

…was face to face with Isabella.

The shock of seeing the girl he had been thinking about for so long now physically made him take a step back, although he of course knew that keeping physical distance wasn't going to serve any point. She… she wasn't supposed to see him here, not that it was a crime to go to Irving's, but they would both know that this wasn't something he usually did. She would know, or at least suspect, that he came here to ask for information on her, just like…

…she was here to ask for information about him?

It _was_ possible, even if the thought sounded strange to his mind. Isabella probably wasn't one of Irving's most regular visitors either, after all. He had no idea what she would want to know, though. Why would she want more information on him? He knew he sometimes came across as a bit of a mystery, but really, she could just _ask_ him, either now or next Saturday or at some time after it. And really, what could Irving tell that she would be interested in? It wasn't like _Isabella_ would ever want to _stalk_ him…

…did she now think that he had been here to stalk _her_?

Ferb tried not to let that thought make him break into a panic. It wasn't true, after all. He had just come for some information that would allow him to make his and Isabella's date as perfect as it needed to be, which was needed if they were going to give each other a serious chance. He may have asked for Irving's assistance, but that didn't mean that he had just copied all of the other boy's methods. Isabella should know that he would never go that far, that it would be supremely impractical to go to a fanboy of _them_ if he wanted to stalk _her_, that he respected her and kept his distance when he needed to because he knew this was a difficult time for her above all…

…and yet she was still staring at him.

Ferb blinked for the umpteenth time, trying to compose himself. "Isabella," he finally said, trying to sound as cool and confident as he usually felt. He thought it came out sounding all right, but there was no way to be sure. He had never needed to practice this – he had never really been at the _center_ of the drama rather than observing from the sidelines or doing some carefully practiced trick to win people's attention.

Isabella greeted him back, but she just kept staring at him, which was getting uncomfortable… and yet, he couldn't really do anything about it. Couldn't step back, couldn't step forward, couldn't take his eyes off her. She was Isabella, after all, who had become the center of his world. Even now she looked both pretty and sharp, and Ferb found that the more he thought about her, the more he looked at her, the more he felt attracted to her… and the less at ease he felt with her attention being focused entirely on him.

After what had probably been only a few seconds Irving cleared his throat and said a word of goodbye which was clearly designed to break through the awkwardness and give him a face-saving excuse to leave (which was slightly ironic, after he had just spent so much time about thinking how awkward _Irving_ was). Ferb instantly knew to take advantage of the opportunity, and thus he nodded towards Isabella and went on his way. He could practically feel her eyes burning into his back as he walked back to his home.

His thoughts were jumbled. Why had she been there? What did she think of him now? Did she – no, he had to think rationally, there was no reason she was going to cancel Saturday's date. He could easily explain himself, after all. It wasn't like he had been committing a major crime against her by going to Irving, not anymore than she herself had.

On that long walk home, Ferb felt himself calm down and regain his ease with the situation. This was unusual and unexpected, but it was far from unworkable. He had gained some new advice from Irving, and with it, he could work even harder to make next Saturday's date a success. And a success it deserved to be, regardless of whether it would result in any future relationship, for Isabella's sake.

Sure, maybe today had been awkward. But awkwardness was part of life, and if Phineas and Candace's examples were anything to go by, it was something that he couldn't escape even when he would get into a relationship. And that was fine. If Isabella wanted to be at his side, as his close friend… or something more… it would all be worth it.

More and more, Ferb Fletcher could feel that Saturday was going to be a success.


	6. Friday (Phineas and Firesides)

**Author's Note: **_The day before the date, on which some final conversations are held._

**DAY SIX**

_ISABELLA_

It always feels good to have a plan.

For most of the week, Isabella had woken up with a state of confusion predominating in her brain. First, there had been all the things that she had needed to process, such as Phineas not loving her but loving _Candace_ instead, and her own confused feelings for Ferb. Later, she'd had all those conversations with people around her, who had made her feel more at ease while simultaneously preparing her for her date (yes, she felt entirely confident in calling it a date now) with Ferb Fletcher. There was no doubt that those conversations had been helpful, but they had also been very stressful. Telling her mother had been relatively easy compared to spilling the beans to the Fireside Girls, who had after all been watching over her for so long.

And then there had been Candace, whom she'd never even meant to confront. After what had happened, Isabella would have been entirely happy to never see that face – the one firmly pressed against Phineas' in all her nightmares – again as long as she lived. That had been… tense, and infuriating, as much as she had expected it to be. But in the end, she had come out of it feeling slightly better. Candace was still the same girl she had always been, after all. She… she wasn't a complete _monster_, despite her affections for her own brother. Isabella hadn't felt comfortable there, but it was still as if there had been a weight off her chest when she went home.

Compared to all that, dealing with Irving had almost been easy, and it had been more 'frustrating that she hadn't been able to find anything concrete' than any other feeling she might have had. And even bumping into Ferb, which was certainly yesterday's most memorable moment, would have been supremely awkward only a few days ago, and now… now it had lingered in her mind for a while, yes, but it had smoothly been supplanted by other thoughts as time went on, and all of yesterday evening she had been busy setting her plans in motion for Saturday.

And thus now, as Isabella woke up again, she could actually feel _good_ about herself. Things were looking up, and she was actively looking forward to going out with Ferb tomorrow. She had to stop herself from fantasizing what it'd be like, because she knew that had backfired so often with Phineas… and yet, she knew Ferb wasn't Phineas. So who knew? Maybe tomorrow _would_ be just as perfect as she'd always dreamed her first date would be.

But not everything was settled. She knew that as she went to school and once again observed Phineas and Ferb from a distance. She could give both of them a smile – Ferb a more awkward one than Phineas, after yesterday, although she managed to rally herself enough to wink at him and was satisfied to see him blush in return and watch a hint of a smile creep up that stoic face of his – but she wasn't really talking to them, still. She hadn't been over to the Flynn-Fletcher home since last Saturday, and although in part that was entirely normal as they just hadn't been doing anything (as far as she knew), the fact that the distance had been previously agreed upon had made it feel more forced and left her yearning for the end.

Phineas had suggested it, back when they had all been sitting by her pool. It had been a good suggestion at the time, a remarkably perceptive one by his standards, and Isabella knew that it had probably been for the best. And yet, by now she felt that there were too many things left unsaid for this to go on any longer. She needed closure, closure that she hadn't really gotten the last time. Closure of… of what? She didn't really know, but she did know that it had to happen before tomorrow.

It was time.

When they left school at the usual hour, Isabella made sure to follow Phineas and Ferb closely. Sometimes Phineas would have invented something that could bring them home faster, but now, as most of the times really, he apparently preferred to walk. The thought made her smile a little, and it left her to wonder what it would be like if she had the same skills the Flynn-Fletcher brothers had. Would she try to improve every single part of her life? Or would she just be like Phineas, doing the impossible in one moment and going back home to eat dinner the next?

Well, next to the huge issues that were going on between them, that question really didn't matter right now. Isabella was just considering how to approach Phineas while Ferb was right there when she was tapped on the shoulder from behind.

"So..." Ginger asked, a curious grin on her face as she sidled up besides her friend. On the other side, Gretchen and Adyson joined them. "How's it going?"

Isabella smirked. "B minus for Science, B plus for Math, A minus for English," she replied dryly.

"_Very_ funny, Iz," Adyson said. "You know what we meant. Don't think we missed how you were eying both Phineas _and_ Ferb there. 'S there something you need to tell us?"

Isabella reached out to shove the girl in the side. "You know my date with Ferb is still on schedule," she replied. "Especially if you guys can help me with everything I asked for last night. Right now, I just want to talk to Phineas again, about this whole thing." She sighed. "I… just want to know there are no hard feelings between us, you know? Giving up on him… it's been hard. And that's not even considering how _he_ must have felt about _me_." That was probably true in a greater sense than the Fireside Girls, whom she'd told that Phineas had realized her intentions on the night itself, could imagine. Apparently Phineas had recently discovered her feelings for him and felt hurt about it, for reasons that she could now at least somewhat understand, but she still didn't know exactly how that had happened.

Gretchen nodded. "That's all right, chief" she said. "It's going to be fine. I promise." She reached out to put a hand on Isabella's shoulder, and the two exchanged a brief look that warmed Isabella's heart somewhat. She knew that she was going to date the guy that Gretchen had had a crush on, and even if he had turned her down on his own accord and Gretchen hadn't spoken up about the matter last Monday, it was only now that she could truly feel that the smaller girl felt no lingering resentment towards her.

"Thanks, Gretch," she whispered.

"You're welcome, Isabella" Gretchen replied. She turned to the rest of their group and smiled. "All right girls, you've heard her. Isabella wants to talk to Phineas – let's go distract Ferb and make it possible."

"Okay, I'm pretty sure I didn't say _that_," Isabella half-heartedly protested, but before she could say anything more the girls had already run up ahead and crowded around Ferb, pulling him away from his confused brother. Ferb's facial expression looked lost too (which was kind of adorable – she should _really_ tell him to emote more tomorrow) but when he caught sight of her there was a knowing grin on his face as he winked to her. Isabella gave him a teasing wink in return before walking on to meet up with Phineas, who was still staring after his brother.

"Hey, Phineas," she greeted him, feeling a little thrill at the familiarity of the words. "Whatcha doing?"

Phineas blinked and smiled at her. "Hi Isabella," he replied. "Ferb and I were just walking home when the Fireside Girls approached him because they wanted to talk to him, or they wanted to leave me alone? I'm not exactly sure what they said." He looked into her eyes and she saw his mind snap into gear as he overcame his usual obliviousness to put two and two together. "Wait, this was for you, wasn't it? You want to talk to me."

"If you don't mind," Isabella confirmed.

"Of course not," Phineas said, grinning broadly. He… still looked handsome when he did that. There was no way he would ever _not_ look a-cute. But without the implicit assumption that maybe he was finally gaining feelings for her, there was no bump in her heartbeat as there had usually been when he grinned at her. Instead, she just felt… normal, more or less. Happy to be around a friend.

That was a good start, wasn't it?

Isabella hesitated for a moment about what she was going to say, and Phineas being Phineas of course jumped right on that, unable to keep quiet. (She'd kind of missed that.) "It's been a really weird time lately, hasn't it?" he said. "But I'm glad that we seem to be coming out of it all right. I… well, I hope that I can still be the same good friend for you that I always tried to be, even if I know now that you may not always have taken it as such." She could hear his voice wavering a bit there, and once more felt a pang in her heart as she thought about how effected he had obviously been by thinking that she only viewed him as a crush and nothing else. "And, well, I really do hope what you and Ferb are going to do tomorrow will work out. But even if it doesn't – can you come back to us anyway? I've missed you, you know. Not just last week, but in the previous couple of weeks when I knew that you had a crush on me but I also knew that I couldn't just talk about it." He shook his head. "Maybe I should have, after all. I don't know why I didn't, because though Ferb had told me not to, I was… not exactly on the best of terms with him at the time. But still, he told me you would be upset about Candace, and he was spot on about that."

Isabella sighed. "I know, Phineas," she replied. It was probably too much to hope for to be able to go through a conversation with him without Candace's name popping up. "Did she… tell you? That I came over the other day?"

"She did, yes" Phineas confirmed. "She told me that you wanted all of us to get along again, and that you wanted to reassure Ferb that you weren't calling off your date. I had no idea why you would have, but apparently Ferb did, and he was _really_ pleased to hear that you weren't doing it." He gave her a corny grin that she couldn't help but chuckle at. Phineas was always so… overt with his emotions, and now that she was, for the first time in their lives, actively talking to him about romances she could see how he was no less subtle there than he was with any other subject. She wondered how he and his sister were actually planning to keep this whole thing a secret. Seriously, when she had barged in on them, they had been kissing on the _living room couch_. Sure, the curtains were drawn and their parents weren't home, but even so…

She shook her head. Never mind that brand of insanity. "Maybe it was a bit redundant," she admitted. "But, well, I have been crushing on you for as long as I can remember, and Ferb knew that – and he also knew that both him asking me out and me saying yes was a pretty impulsive moment after that crazy night. I mean, you were there to see it. It wouldn't have been very strange if I had changed my mind in the morning."

"Maybe not," Phineas allowed. "Still, in my experiences, the best stuff of your life tends to happen on a whim." There was a far-away expression on his face, and the moment Isabella realized what he was thinking about she loudly cleared her throat, snapping him out of it again. "But yeah, Ferb would have known all about your crush on me, wouldn't he? I… I keep forgetting that, somehow. Not the fact that you had one, but that it was such a big deal, apparently. That even to Ferb, it would be hard to imagine that you'd fall for him, because… because you liked _me_. Had liked me for _years_."

Isabella blushed, and she put a hand on Phineas' shoulder. "There was a lot of stuff that I should have been clearer about," she admitted. "I should have just… gone up and told you, I guess, but it was so _hard_ to admit it, and I tried flirting with you but you just didn't _notice_ anything, so I… I just decided to wait. Maybe that was kinda stupid, but, well, I _was_ the main girl in your life. There wasn't anything wrong with me, was there? So why wouldn't you have fallen for me, if I just waited long enough?" She shook her head. "But you didn't. You fell for… for _her_, instead, and I'm not going to say it doesn't still sting, but I've got to get over it. And I _am_, Phineas," she reassured him as she caught sight of his expression. "I'm not just diving into Ferb's arms because I want to get away from you. But that doesn't make it less hard to adjust."

"I… I understand that, I guess?" Phineas awkwardly said. "I… well, I can't change the past. Not without a time machine, and that would probably blow up in both our faces. And I just want you to know that I really want this to work out for you and Ferb. Not because I don't want you to pine after me, or just because of Ferb, but because I really care for you and I want you to be _happy_. And I know, now, how much romance can _make_ you happy."

Isabella nodded. "I understand," she said, softly. "I really want this to work out too. Dating Ferb will be different from what I've always wanted, but it can be a _good_ difference, I'm sure of that."

Phineas glanced sideways at her. "What did you always want, then?" he asked.

The girl paused, not sure what to say now that her lifelong crush was asking her that pivotal question of _why_ she had always been so interested in him. It… it seemed so obvious, and yet as she opened her mouth she realized she wasn't really sure of what to say. "I wanted _you_," she said softly. "I crushed on you, because you are… you're cheerful. You're creative. You're brilliant. You're so incredibly sweet and easy-going. You're cute. You're… I don't know, Phineas! You're just so _happy_ and nice and smart and helpful, and I couldn't _not_ fall for you." She dared to look up, aware that she had to be blushing furiously right now, and noticed that Phineas was actually doing the same thing. "That's… well, that's as close as I can get to finding my reasons. I've always crushed on you, without giving much thought to why, because you were my _life_ and I barely even noticed the others were _there_ – especially poor Ferb – and that makes it so hard to tell which are positive things that I noticed about you _because_ I was in love with you, and which are actually the causes of me falling for you in the first place. But I do know that I always wanted to spend time with you, to be with you, because of _all_ of that."

She sighed wryly. "The one thing that I wanted from a guy that you _didn't_ have for me was romance – and I was always confident that that was just a matter of time. And… well, I guess it was. But when it came, it wasn't meant for me."

She stared ahead of herself for a few moments, almost unable to believe that she had told him all those things. Sure, it didn't matter so much anymore now, but she was still pouring her heart out, to Phineas, and it was so _weird_.

Phineas spoke up, and she could hear his voice crack almost immediately. "_Gosh_, Isabella," he said, before a single exchanged look made it obvious that even he realized how silly that sounded. "Sorry. I just… it's a lot to take in, you know? To hear someone tell you that she's had feelings for you. And it's so different from when Candace did it, because…" He caught himself and shook his head. "Sorry, I'm really doing badly at this. I'm… well, I'm sure that we could have been together as a couple, and it would have worked out in one way or another. I mean, you're one of my best friends, and I know the same goes in reverse." Isabella nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "But I'm not sure all those things you listed apply to me as much as you think they do. I _try_ to help people when they've got trouble, but apparently I've been blind to your _romantic_ trouble for years on end and it's only frustrated you. Cute… well, thanks, I guess, although that is a matter of taste." He chuckled.

"And… easy-going? Well, you know I have a temper. I've got it under control most of the time, and I don't think I've ever snapped at you, but I have snapped at Candace. And I feel terrible about it, because I love her so much and I don't want to hurt her, but at the same time, she can deal with it, you know? She's… well, I don't want to say she's _used_ to it, because that feels like I'm justifying my outbursts, but she's a bit rough around the edges herself sometimes, and although part of that was because of her trying to bust me part of that is just who she is, and I feel like we can deal with that, together, and it'll work out." He looked apologetic. "I'm not saying you _can't_ handle me at my worst – not at all. Isabella, I've known you for almost all my life. You're _great_. You've accomplished stuff with the Fireside Girls that Ferb and I have never done, and you wouldn't be here right now if you weren't strong mentally too. But if you've always _expected_ me to be easy-going, then, well… I could have been easy-going for you most of the time, but not always. It wasn't going to be perfect, the way I think you wanted it to be."

"I know, Phineas," Isabella said quickly. "I know." She did not add the 'now' that her mind was tempted to put there.

Phineas nodded. "And as for me being smart – well, again, you only have to look at your record in the Fireside Girls to see everything you've pulled off with your wits. It's not like I stand out all that much there. I try to build cool projects, but honestly? I don't think I would have accomplished a quarter of everything we ever thought of or built without Ferb. Well, Ferb _and_ Candace, although I guess she wasn't even always trying to help in retrospect – not that that devalues her accomplishments. But Ferb? I would have been lost without him."

Isabella looked up, hearing the passion in his voice as he spoke about his brother, passion that she had known _something_ of (just as she had known _something_ about Phineas' feelings on his older sister) but which she saw in a wholly different light now that she herself was no longer ignoring the boy in question. "You really do admire Ferb, don't you?" she asked softly.

"I do," Phineas replied enthusiastically. "And that's why I think he can be exactly what you always wanted _me_ to be. Hear me out here. Ferb _is_ smart. I don't think anyone would deny that. Sure, he can be kind of quiet, and I know that some people think he's hard to talk to because of that, but really, if you just pay attention to him, you'll find that there's a lot more to him than others might think. I mean, you know that, right?" Isabella nodded. "Ferb is kind. He helped you last Saturday, when I… let you down, and though he can get mad, yes, he's got a lot more control of himself than I do. And happy? Sure, I'm cheerful, but it's not like Ferb is any different. And I know that sometimes I'm _too_ cheerful, and it stops me from noticing when other people are unhappy. It's something I failed on with you, and with Candace – and I'm going to start trying my best to notice stuff, but it doesn't come easy for me. But it does for Ferb."

They had reached the Flynn-Fletcher backyard by now, and Isabella sat down underneath the familiar tree (fortunately it wasn't _that_ cold today) even as Phineas remained standing. "I don't think I could have given you what you wanted from a romance, Isabella," he told her. "But I think – no, I _know_ that Ferb can."

It was a dramatic statement, and Isabella had to pause for a moment to consider it as her friend sat down next to her. Part of her wanted to reject it, as it sounded so alien – and yet, it would, wouldn't it? After all, it was _Phineas_ saying it, Phineas whom she had never before talked to about romance. Of course he would have a new, unconventional take on the whole thing. And maybe it was even a take that appealed to her – she was looking for things that Ferb had to offer her, after all, and trying to leave Phineas behind, so the idea that Phinabella never could have succeeded should be welcome.

But the fact that it was welcome did not make it _easy_.

"I guess I can see your points," she said softly. "And I would even like for that to be true. But it's just so _weird_."

Phineas chuckled. "Oh, I know," he replied. "It was weird for me to even start thinking about romance – well, when it came to myself, at least. I did help arrange that cruise for Baljeet and Mishti once, after all, although looking back at it and knowing what I know now about the practicalities of romance, I can guess that I probably, um, went a little off-course there." He grinned awkwardly, and Isabella grinned back. "But now that I _have_ gone down this path, it feels better than anything I could have imagined before. It's different, yes, but it's a good different – and I hope it's going to be that way for you, too. Besides, it's not like we've never done weird stuff before, and you always stuck with us throughout."

That was a fair point, and it made Isabella feel a bit more hope for the future. "I know," she said. "The question is – how. I mean, it's not like everything hangs on this first date, and I think it's going to be fine, mostly, but I'm still feeling a bit nervous for tomorrow. That's why I spent the last week talking to people about Ferb, trying to understand him, and… well, I guess you're the last one." She smiled. "I think I've got it mostly under control now, but still – a little help would be much appreciated."

This time, it was Phineas who stayed silent for a while as he looked at her, before finally shaking his head. "I don't think you need help, Isabella. I get that you want to make sure everything feels right before you're going into this, but the truth is, just the fact that you do means that you've done enough. I mean, look at Ferb. Apparently, you've been focusing on me for the past couple of years. You told me that you wanted that romance only with me, so much that you almost forgot that he was there. And yet, he fell for you. He fell for you because of who you _are_, Isabella, who you've always been throughout these years. I'm not saying that you shouldn't prepare for your date, or that you should still be thinking about me when you're going on it, but above all, you should be yourself. And then Ferb will love you, and that'll matter more than anything else you could prepare for."

Isabella blinked. Come to think of it, she could have figured that Phineas would say something like that. He was Phineas, after all – he always seemed to have such incredible faith in other people, even when they didn't have it in themselves. (Although her memories of him attempting to cheer up _Candace_ in particular now felt rather sour.) It was a very useful trait in a friend and one that she appreciated him for, but it was also one that made it harder for him to imagine just what she was going through. He just… had this natural confidence about him.

But then again, wasn't he right? She had made her preparations, she had done what she could. At a certain point, she should trust in herself, as she usually would have, especially when flirting with Phineas. (And at least _there_ a long-standing track record of failure should have gotten her down. With Ferb, she was in an entirely new situation, and there was absolutely no reason to presume things would go wrong.) It would be nice if Phineas had something new to offer to her, but, well, this _was_ his brother. Maybe it was easier to say something about someone when you didn't know him all that well (like her mother's limited knowledge of Ferb) than it was when you knew every last detail of his personality, as Phineas did. Ferb, to him, was just… Ferb, and there was nothing new he could tell Isabella about him aside from all the general character traits he had already offered up. She supposed that he might have romance-related stories, but even for oblivious Phineas those would have been at the top of his head, and he hadn't mentioned them, so it was likely that this was all he had right now.

"Be myself," she finally repeated. "Okay, I can do that."

Phineas grinned at her. "I know you can."

His confidence in her was encouraging, and Isabella felt a little bit lighter in her heart at that moment – which, of course, was dented right away as Candace came walking out of the house. Or was it? She certainly felt uncomfortable around Phineas' sister, but it wasn't the same kind of hostility that she had felt only a couple of days ago. She didn't know if Phineas' presence now made it better or worse, either. It _should_ be making it worse, shouldn't it? After all, this was the kind of combination that she had faced last week, and more than confronting Phineas alone, more than confronting _Candace_ alone, it reminded her of the fact that her crush had abandoned her to commit incest. Which would still be reprehensible even if she hadn't been so deeply invested in this.

And yet, as she took a deep breath, she breathed it out again. Being in the presence of Phineas and Candace brought back bad memories, but she could suppress them, and although it made her feel uncomfortable she knew she was doing a lot better now than she was before. Part of her still felt wrong about that, wanting to keep resenting them for committing incest… but the other part, which was arguably the more rational one, knew that that would be counterproductive. She wanted to be friends with Phineas. She wanted to not hate Candace. She wanted to date Ferb. None of those things would be served by continuing to get upset over Candace taking her guy.

And thus, she tried to let it go.

"Hey Phineas," Candace said, sounding casual. "I wanted to come over and check on you, because I heard a _lack_ of noise coming from the backyard. And you know how it is – I need to know what you're _not_ doing." She grinned. "Get it? Because usually, I'd be trying to bust you for doing something?"

Phineas grinned, even though Isabella didn't think it was very funny. (Or funny at all, for that matter. He really must have a serious thing for her, then, to be able to laugh at that.) "Of course, sis," he replied. "If you show what we're doing to mom, we're going to be so… _complimented_." (Okay, that was even worse.) "But yeah, I was just sitting here and talking to Isabella. She asked me for advice on Ferb."

Candace looked over towards Isabella, and the girl hoped that Phineas' sister wasn't only just realizing that she was there. Seriously, the fact that her "boyfriend" was here didn't mean she had to focus on him and ignore everyone else, and yes she knew that was making her sound kind of hypocritical because of her long history of ignoring Ferb for Phineas, but she didn't care right now so there.

"Hi, Isabella," the older girl said, slightly more tense this time. She sat down next to them. "So, Phineas too, huh?"

Isabella nodded. "I've been going to lots of places over the past couple of days to get advice for tomorrow," she replied. "And Phineas _is_ the obvious source for information on Ferb. So when I… was ready, I decided to seek him out, and he had… a lot of good insights. On why he and I wouldn't have worked as a couple, and why Ferb and I _would_." She shrugged, part of her still feeling exposed by telling all this to Candace, of all people, but still knowing that it ultimately didn't matter that much anymore. "I think it's actually going to help a lot."

"Is that so?" Candace looked over to Phineas. "That's good, then. Because Ferb really does like you." She smiled. "And I'm sure the two of you will be happy together."

Well, at least that was a slightly warmer reception than her story had gotten a few days ago, although now Isabella was getting the sense that Candace was pushing her away from Phineas. She raised an eyebrow, ready to say something about it, but then she sighed. Why _would_ she get worked up about it? Candace was right, after all. She _was_ going away from Phineas. She was going to try this new thing with Ferb, and given that Phineas didn't want to date her anyway it would not be relevant in _that_ sense whether her date would work out or not. Phinabella was done for.

And increasingly, Isabella was considering that that _was_ a good thing. That regardless of whether her behavior around Phineas had been stalking and evil and something she should distance herself from at all cost, or just a flawed but well-intentioned crush, it was better to put it behind her. Because as Phineas had said, the two of them weren't going to work out in any case, and there was a better match for her out there.

She looked up at Candace, and felt herself able to relax a little more despite the other girl's presence. "I hope so too," she admitted. "Ferb… is new. But I want to make this work. Like… you guys are making your thing work."

"It _would_ be really cool if the four of us could just… align like that," Phineas agreed. "Because then it would be you and Ferb, and me and Candace, and we'd all have romantic partners and it could bring us closer together." That was a very optimistic statement, but that was par for the course for Phineas and so Isabella did not bother to contradict him. "Which reminds me – Isabella, do you want to come over tomorrow, during the day? I came up with this competition of mechanized horses, between you and Ferb on one side, and me and Candace on the other."

Isabella blinked. She almost reflexively looked at Candace, wondering if the other girl would have a negative reaction, but discovered that her expression remained as neutral as it had been before. And really, why shouldn't it be? Phineas was right – getting along with each other was worth a shot, and after a week of isolation she was ready to commit herself to that. She'd missed that normalcy of participating in the Flynn-Fletchers' inventions, and if there was going to be a competition tomorrow, she wanted to be a part of it.

"All right," she replied, a twinkle in her eyes. "But don't complain if Ferb and I beat you."

Candace smirked. "There's no chance of that tomorrow," she said. "If only because I'll be teaming up with the one who came _up_ with those horses. We _own_ their concept, so you're going _down_."

"Actually, Ferb and I will both be building them?" Phineas pointed out. "And we haven't even figured out whether to put any cool gadgets in them, although we probably should. That's half the fun in races. How about a cup holder?"

Isabella ignored him, staring back at Candace. "Oh yeah? I'm sorry to disappoint you then, Candace, but Ferb always wins – and so do I, within the Fireside Girls. If we work together, I'm sure we'll be a perfect team, and we will crush you." She felt an odd rush and realized that she was actually looking forwards to this. It would be lighthearted fun, having a good time with her friends… and yet, at the same time, it would be a chance to get that resentment and unease she still felt at the woman who had pulled off the impossible crime by stealing Phineas out of her system.

When put like that, how could she possibly be against it?

At that point, Ferb walked into the backyard. The back of Isabella's mind couldn't help but note that there were four of them in the yard now, three of which were the people she'd been trying so hard to avoid for the past couple of days because meeting them again would be awkward… and she felt nothing.

She was at _ease_.

Ferb sat down next to her, giving her an amused look that was either a reference to her presence here, the barrage her friends had launched against him and the hand she'd had in that, or both. Probably both. She blushed, even though she was glad that he didn't appear to be upset by any of it. Of course, they _had_ both approached Irving yesterday, so, well, he really wasn't so perfectly above it all himself.

As she wouldn't want him to be.

"Hey Ferb," Phineas greeted him. "Isabella just agreed to be on your team to go do that horse racing thing I was talking about tomorrow. What do you say?"

Ferb blinked, appearing to be slightly surprised. But because he was Ferb, he didn't lose his composure for very long. He glanced over at her, and she thought she could see the glimpse of a smile on his face as he answered: "Why not?"

"Serendipitous," Phineas grinned. "After dinner, we should get our blueprints as soon as possible. This is going to have to be _good_."

"Just as long as you don't spend all night welding together a track or the horses themselves," Candace warned, even though there was a teasing glint in her eyes. "If I still hear you after 9 PM, I'm calling Mom and you'll be _so_ busted."

"We'll be quiet," Phineas promised. "Maybe we could do something about keeping the sound down in general? Machinery does tend to make a lot of noise. Make a note of that, Ferb." Isabella was not surprised to see Ferb take a notepad seemingly out of nowhere and scribble something down in response to his brother's words. Phineas then gave his sister a look that… well, there wasn't anything wrong with it per se, but there was something about it that was, well, _softer_ than the usual looks he and Candace would exchange. (Or maybe that was just because she hadn't noticed it until now.) "Don't worry, sis," he told her. "I'll figure something out. This is going to be fun for _all_ of us, I'll make sure of it."

Candace nodded slowly, although Isabella could see that she wasn't exactly at _ease_ with what he had said, appearing to be embarrassed. "Thanks?" she said, though it sounded more like a question. "I guess? Phineas, I don't want to be a spoilsport. I've done enough of that for the past two years."

"You're not being a spoilsport, Candace," Phineas assured her. "I know that you want to have fun with us – I've seen you lots of times. But I also know that you have your own life. And, well, that may be difficult to balance, but I'm happy to do anything I can to help you with it. Because…" He glanced over at Isabella, who rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. "…I am your boyfriend now." He smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry, Izzy."

"It's okay," Isabella replied, trying not to sound long-suffering. It _had_ only been six days, which was not very long at all. "You can say it, just… please don't act on it in my presence. Okay? I'm trying to come to terms with it, but it's going to be a bumpy ride." She felt Ferb's hand on her shoulder, and blushed fiercely.

"Of course," Phineas said. "I don't have any plans to leave Candace, so it _is_ going to stay this way, at least as far as I'm concerned, but I don't want to trouble you. Right sis?" Candace nodded. "So we can do that – or at least try."

"That's all I can ask," Isabella replied, standing up just as she realized how true that was. She couldn't ask them to break up, couldn't ask them to conceal their relationship from her, because Phineas wanted to be together with Candace, and she with him, for some reason she didn't understand. She would need to face up to it, and she would perhaps even need to accept interacting with them as a normal couple, a couple who kissed and went on dates and flirted in front of her, being no more embarrassed about it than any other couple would be.

She might have to accept that, eventually. But not today.

"I'm going home," she informed them. "It's dinner time." The afternoon had passed by remarkably fast, all in all, and she was happy to be able to talk to them again, but she was eager to head home and catch a break from it now. She went out of the gate, giving one more look towards the people who had been her friends for so long, and whom she was determined to keep as friends in the future – or, in Ferb's case, possibly as something more.

Just one more day. One more day of dwelling on everything she had heard… and then, putting that behind her to engage with the real thing. To go out on a date with Ferb. She didn't know whether it would be good or if it would lead to anything, but she still had a faint sense of confidence that it would work out.

After all, as she had thought when he followed her into her backyard last week, it was Ferb Fletcher. Her confidant. Her friend. Her partner.

He would not let her down.

_FERB_

Of all the things that Ferb would have expected to happen on D-Day-minus-1 of his date with Isabella, being accosted by a posse of Fireside Girls and put under pressure to justify his suitability to be Isabella's boyfriend was not one of them.

It was probably, in retrospect, something that he could have seen coming. Of course the Fireside Girls, who had always supported Isabella in her attempts to woo Phineas, would want to check the suitability of her new… romantic prospect. Especially considering that, one exception aside, he would expect them to have mostly the same opinion of him as a characterless figure in Phineas' shadow that many people did. (Not that it had ever really bothered him until now.) The only reason he hadn't caught on to this possibility before was that part of him still couldn't believe how real all of this was. That he might actually end up being Isabella's boyfriend soon.

Well, at least he ought to have realized _that_ by tomorrow.

Until the moment the girls showed up and shooed him away from his brother, Ferb hadn't thought there was going to be anything out of the ordinary about the day. School was school. The teachers had their headaches, as Phineas was Phineas. (Though to be fair, given that they didn't have science class, Phineas only really spoke up to fundamentally correct the textbooks once. Which didn't stop the teachers from acting uncomfortable about the possibility that he _might_, though. Apparently, paranoia was something that even grown adults could suffer from. That didn't bode well for Candace.)

Anyway, although he had certainly _seen_ Isabella several times and felt their interactions return to normal to a greater extent than they previously had, he hadn't really spared a thought on her for much of the day. Of course he knew what was going to happen tomorrow, but it was not consciously on his mind even when they _were_ around her. It was only as the Fireside Girls took him apart from Phineas and he caught the expression on Isabella's face that he realized what was up.

Ferb supposed that in that moment, he could have panicked that the reason Isabella wanted to talk to Phineas was because she had fallen for him again. It was what his sister would have done, probably, and given Isabella's background, would it really have been a surprise if she abandoned him to keep pining after Phineas? The poor girl had been through such a major shock to her world view, forcing her to rethink everything – Ferb figured that if she snapped back to 'normal' to cope with it, he couldn't even blame her.

But he nevertheless knew that that was not what was happening. Phineas was in love with _Candace_, not her, and Isabella was smart enough to know that and draw her conclusions from it. He had seen Isabella visiting Irving yesterday, and he had heard about her conversation with Candace, how she had asked for advice on dating him and how she had wished to reassure him that their date was still on. For all that she had tried to engineer so many dates with Phineas without telling him that it was a date, Ferb did not truly believe that she would abandon him now without informing him straight-out. That… just didn't sound like Isabella to his mind.

And, of course, from the evidence of the Fireside Girls swarming all over him, it wasn't.

"So, Ferb," Ginger asked. "You're going out with Isabella tomorrow?"

It wasn't a question. Of course it wasn't a question. It was more of an opening statement, inviting him to explain his actions to them. Ferb stopped for a moment on the sidewalk to look at the girls around him. Ginger was curious, somewhat cocky, but clearly content with this whole situation. Adyson looked somewhat more challenging, less convinced about his merits – for which he couldn't blame her – but not openly hostile, at least, so there was that. And then there was Gretchen, who had asked him out only a few weeks ago. It was something he did feel bad over, but at the same time, there was no point in trying to make something work with her when his heart lay with someone else. Especially now that that someone else turned out to be willing to be with him, too. Gretchen obviously was still a bit uneasy about that, but Ferb trusted that she understood it.

He blinked in confirmation, and then realized that that was probably not enough, so he nodded. He wasn't going to elaborate on it unless they asked him a more specific question, and he was hardly just going to enter into a soliloquy about how deeply his feelings for Isabella ran. He had given speeches before, but never about romance – that was a part of himself that he had never felt a desire to share.

"So, do you really think that it could work?" Adyson said bluntly. "Isabella has always pined over Phineas. She's never really talked about you before. Even if he rejected her, that doesn't mean that you two could suddenly make a perfect couple."

"That's true," Gretchen agreed. "Isabella always dreamed of Phineas, and you're very different from him. You're… well, you look different, obviously, you're silent where Phineas is talkative, and you're…"

"…not as dense as Phineas?" Ginger asked. "Because no offense to your brother, Ferb, but Phineas did hurt her by not realizing her feelings for him for all those years. If Ferb here can do better on that front, I'm all for it."

"We know _you're_ all for it, Ginger," Adyson dryly replied. "What we're here for is to hear whether _we_ can be all for it, too."

"Which doesn't involve picking a fight with each other," Gretchen duly noted, giving Adyson a look. She turned back to him. "Ferb, we want to know whether you would be good for Isabella. Whether you want to date her permanently, whether you're going to talk more," Ginger raised an eyebrow at that, "and be the creative, loving guy she deserves."

"Because if you won't be, there's going to be consequences," Adyson warned, trying to sound menacing.

Ferb smiled inwardly. It was… good to see their concern, he supposed. Even though they were assaulting _him_ right now, they were only doing it to help a longstanding friend because their preconceptions had just been entirely thrown out of whack. That was not something he could blame them for. He had no idea how he'd ended up in this situation either.

And maybe that was why he should listen to them right now. Because like so many others, they were willing to help him – help he could certainly use. And for that, all they wanted was an explanation.

So, what could he tell them? Aside from nodding to Gretchen's point about sticking around, which he did – even if that did sound like a big commitment, not just for him but for Isabella too, it would at least be a sign that his _intentions_ lay in the right direction – he wasn't really sure on what to say. He… didn't have a selling pitch. The fact that Isabella had fallen for him, at least to some degree, had been a major shock to his system. He had never intended to tell her or her friends about his feelings for her, because they weren't going to be answered anyway.

But all that was in the past. The selling pitch was in the present. And even though Ferb knew he wasn't perfect and that he would end up letting Isabella down on some points where she might have reasonably expected more from Phineas, he _did_ have confidence in his own skills. After this week, he knew what she wanted, and he knew how to achieve it. All that was needed now was to convince the Fireside Girls. Not because he needed to have their approval, but because he wanted it – and because in the process, he could perhaps soothe any remaining doubts in his own mind.

"I never expected to truly fall in love with Isabella," he spoke. "But I have. And that is why I believe that I can be the attentive boyfriend that she wants and needs. The prince charming who will do his best to fulfill her romantic desires by taking her out, charming and wooing her, surprising and dazzling her. But I will also listen to her when I notice that she needs me to do so. Realizing how much Phineas' obliviousness kept him from doing so upset me more and more the past months, which in turn made me surprised at the strength of my compassion for Isabella and my desire to help her." Which had ended in his brother getting a punch to the face, of course, so perhaps these unrestrained feelings that falling in love had brought were not entirely a good thing, but, well, the Fireside Girls probably didn't know that and there was no need to enlighten them. "I want to comfort her and help her. I… have never wanted that before, in a romance, because I only sought to _charm_ my first crush. I did care for her, but I remained aloof because that is what I had always done and it had always been enough. But Isabella is different."

Old memories came to mind without any prompting, of stepping up to offer a handkerchief and a listening ear on that island two years ago, or comforting her when she was scared as the whalemingo planet threatened to collide with Earth, or helping her find herself after she almost gave up on finding the missing pieces of the puzzle in that labyrinth last year. Every time, he had gotten emotionally involved to an extent that he never had before, without ever questioning just how unusual that was until now. "She _feels_ different, and although first I thought it was simply because she was a close friend that I had known for a long time, now I know that that is not all there is to it. I love her, and I cannot imagine ever ceasing to love her."

Ferb fell silent, realizing that he had not spoken for so long in quite a while. But once he had started, he had been unable to stop, formulating into words those feelings that had been forming below the surface over the past weeks. They were all true, he knew that now. And the Fireside Girls, from the expressions on their faces, knew it too.

He cleared his throat, taking a deep breath, and watched as the Fireside Girls just stared at him. Gretchen was the one who found her voice first. "That was very… eloquent, Ferb," she said, blinking. "Wow."

"I told you there was nothing bad about Isabella switching to Ferb," Ginger added smugly. "But you wouldn't listen to me."

"If we wouldn't have listened to you, we wouldn't be here, now would we?" Adyson pointed out. "But yeah, I agree. That was well-said." From the way they were all reacting, it was obvious that they had not been expecting a reply of that length or depth – and to be fair, neither had he. They were all treading new waters here, after all.

"So, you're going to be taking Isabella to dinner tomorrow, right Ferb?" Ginger asked. Ferb blinked in confirmation, and the girl smiled. "You… need any help with that?"

Ferb raised his eyebrow at that – although of course getting help from Isabella's friends was not any different from what he had gotten over the course of the week, and it would be a nice confirmation that they were okay with him as her boyfriend now – and Ginger's friends gave the same reaction. "After hearing that speech he gave just now, I'm pretty sure Ferb can take care of himself, Ginge," Adyson pointed out. "What help could he need?"

"We could tell him what Isabella likes?" Ginger proposed. "Or he could lay his plans before us and we could check whether Isabella would say no to that."

"Didn't he just do that?" Adyson replied. "And I'm pretty sure that Isabella isn't going to say no to any of that. Not to mention that she's the one who's wanting to go out with Ferb, not us." (Ferb couldn't help but notice the way Gretchen's eyes briefly flickered towards her and then towards him for a second. He tried to smile apologetically.) "She can determine for herself whether she likes what Ferb presents to her. Not to mention that we never tried to help Phineas in that way."

"I'm not sure that that comparison entirely applies, Adyson," Gretchen said. "We never really got to this stage with Phineas, did we? That was always the problem."

Ginger nodded. "Adyson is right about a lot of that, but I do think that we can help you, Ferb. Tomorrow night has to be perfect. It's for love, isn't it?"

It felt good to have that level of support from one of his crush's friends, even if it was apparent that Gretchen and Adyson remained skeptical, and of course that didn't include any of the other Fireside Girls, whose opinions he didn't know (although he hoped that the fact that these three were here and that they hadn't mentioned any dissenting opinions from their ranks would mean that they had come around. And again, in any case, he didn't _need_ the approval of Isabella's friends anyway.) Still, he was reluctant to explain his exact plans to them. It… just wasn't something he did. He was Ferb Fletcher. Yes, he worked together with his brother as a team for inventions, but when it came to these more personal adventures, he never coordinated with other people. He worked _alone_.

Was this time different? Ferb didn't know. He was fairly confident in what he was trying to achieve, after all, and keenly aware that he shouldn't try to knock Isabella off her feet too much at his first try (no matter how much the Fireside Girls might insist that he should, and part of him still wanted to). It wasn't like Isabella would be getting help from his friends – or would she? The thought of Buford, Baljeet and Phineas getting involved in their date fluttered through his head, and he had to admit that it made him slightly concerned. He loved his brother and greatly appreciated his friends, but…

Anyway. Romance _was_ a private thing, something between two people, and trying to get others involved could well backfire. Wasn't that what he had told Phineas? His relationship with Candace meant that he had a special kind of responsibility towards their sister now, the way he had with Isabella. Of course he could offer his input, but in the end the burden of carrying out his half of the relationship would fall on Phineas, and if that was something his brother couldn't handle, he probably shouldn't be in a romance – certainly not an incestuous one – anyway.

But of course, he _had_ been asking advice all over the place this week. Granted, in part that was just a way to prepare himself for the first date, not something that he would repeat after tomorrow. He was hardly going to ask Phineas for help every single time, or even bring him along. The Fireside Girls sounded like they wanted personal involvement in his plans, not just to drop a line or two of advice… but it wouldn't _have_ to be that way. In fact, the only reason he probably felt that they might was Ginger's mindset differing so much compared to all the other people he had talked to over the past few days. It was… kind of overwhelming.

But that was no reason to turn down help.

He explained his basic ideas for the next day as concisely as he could, and as he expected the girls nodded along to them. However, Adyson did have one minor revision in mind, which he gladly nodded along to. For the rest, the girls mostly just chattered enthusiastically. He didn't really get any new _ideas_ from that, except perhaps for the knowledge that they had indeed offered Isabella some advice of her own for tomorrow night, which once more confirmed that Isabella was still okay with it going ahead and that she did have some things planned herself, even though not even the most loose-lipped of her friends seemed to be willing to reveal what exactly that was.

The most important thing nevertheless remained that all three of them were accepting him. It… clearly hadn't been an easy journey, from the way Ginger was clearly much more enthusiastic about him than Adyson was, but only a few days after Isabella's earliest opportunity to tell them about their kiss and impending date, her friends accepted that he was taking Phineas' place. It was… odd. Comforting. Encouraging. Revitalizing. It was many things, but above all it was _good_.

He left the girls to head home by the time dinner dawned, and didn't cease to mull over everything he had just experienced in his head until he got to the backyard and saw Isabella still sitting under the tree with Phineas. He hadn't really expected her to still be there, and he wondered what they had been talking about. Isabella's startled reaction as he walked in made 'tomorrow' in general a likely bet, though. Which was a good thing, as was the fact that _Candace_ was there, and still Isabella wasn't bolting. This… this was going better than he could have reasonably expected. He had known Isabella wouldn't _hate_ his brother and sister forever, but the thought that she was actually beginning to _accept_ Phineas' new relationship was a surprise, even if it was a welcome one.

Phineas was an idealist. That was something Ferb had known for a long time, and it was why he had never seriously expected his and Candace's relationship to work out… but it _had_. It was why he had feared about their ability to keep things a secret, believing strongly that the secret would spill to many people around them and that it could prove to be a decisive rupture within their tightly-knit group of family and friends… but, so far, it _hadn't_. And although he had kept that fact in mind when he heard Phineas talk about the four of them basically going on a adventure-double-date by means of mechanical horses last Sunday, his heart had still been unable to believe that Isabella would go along with it.

But, apparently, she had.

Sure, when Phineas trying to comfort Candace got too openly romantic, Isabella got uncomfortable. He couldn't say he was very happy with the sight himself. But she remained put, and expressed only a mild distaste. She wasn't happy, no, but she was coping. Isabella Garcia-Shapiro was not just strong and passionate, but she was also resilient, and although the extent of the trait was taking him off-guard the fact of its existence was only making him love her more.

By the time Isabella left them, they were closing in on the moment when Mom would walk into the backyard and announce dinnertime. There was relatively little time for the three of them to sit there and discuss what had just happened – and Phineas spent most of it teasing Candace about being jealous over the fact that Isabella had come over to talk to him anyway, something Candace bluntly denied even though they both knew perfectly well that it was true. The evening proceeded as normal, dinner was normal, and from the looks of it it was as if nothing unusual was going on. And in a life like his where the abnormal was the norm, maybe that was the case.

But Candace did clasp his shoulder ever so briefly as he and Phineas headed off to bed, giving him a friendly smile. And Phineas, after going on about all sorts of other ideas he had planned for the weekend, did stop to pause and look at him – really look at him – as they were going to bed. "Are you feeling okay about tomorrow, bro?"

Ferb shrugged. It was an ambivalent reaction, perhaps, but he was _feeling_ ambivalent. Tomorrow was going to be a big deal, so similar and yet so different compared to what he had always wanted, but though he wasn't exactly calm about it, he couldn't say that he was anxious either.

Phineas nodded, understanding, and grinned at him. "It's going to be fine, Ferb," he told him. "Going out with someone… it's a big deal. I didn't understand that before, but I do get it now. And you're not perfect either. I… I know that. But you're still Ferb Fletcher. _My_ big brother." Ferb's eyebrows quirked at Phineas' attempts to invoke their oh-so-limited age difference there. "I don't care what anyone else says, but I know that I couldn't have achieved anything near what I did without you. You've always lead the way for me, and that's how I know that you won't mess this up. Because I know you, you know you, and most importantly, _Isabella_ knows you. It's going to be fine – and even if, for some reason, it isn't, then Candace and I and Mom and Dad will be there for you, and we'll get you through it."

Ferb glanced up at his younger brother, usually so flighty and cheerful in a way that had endeared him to almost everyone he met – some more than others, obviously. He was still basically the same guy, but he had developed a knack for saying the right words even when he shouldn't have much to say. And Ferb, who would usually remain silent around his stepbrother because they knew each other so well that a mere twitch of his face would be enough, realized that this was the time to speak up.

"Thank you," he replied.

It was with a cheerful "Of course" that Phineas left him to head to bed, and Ferb could soon hear him snore. He did lie awake for a little longer, as the thoughts of tomorrow didn't leave his head. But in less than twenty minutes he, too, had drifted off.

Because Phineas was right.

Things were going to be just fine.


	7. Saturday (Ferb and Isabella)

**Author's Note: **_Well, this is the second to last chapter, and as such it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger as the old pattern of POV changes starts to break down. It is also my effort to write Ferbella romance, which I feel just about works, but I'm curious to hear what the readers think._

**DAY SEVEN**

_ISABELLA_

When Isabella woke up that Saturday morning, she found herself feeling eager to get off bed and face the world around her.

It had been too long. Sure, she didn't normally come over to the Flynn-Fletchers every single day, but regardless, it had been so long since she had partaken in one of their projects in a _normal_ way, without any tension in the air, and although the presence of that was probably unavoidable on a day like today, that didn't mean that she wasn't going to try to go with the flow and make things normal again.

"I'm going out with Ferb today, Pinky," she told her dog, who raised an ear at her but didn't make any other move. Fair enough. He'd probably had to hear far too many of her ramblings already. "Can you believe it? Part of me still can't, and it's probably going to feel unreal until tonight. But… I'm looking forward to it. To tonight, and to today. For some reason, I have that confidence that it's all going to turn out fine. Maybe Phineas finally rubbed off on me."

Pinky barked at her and Isabella smiled at him, rubbing behind his ear before bouncing… well, almost bouncing… as she headed off the stairs. Her mother also smiled at her. "My my, someone is excited," she said.

"I _am_ happy," Isabella replied, as she sat down still surprised to feel how much she meant it. "Today feels like the start of a new beginning, and one that I'm ready for. I can't be cooped up inside my room and mourn Phineas forever."

That was a pointed dig, and the person it was intended for recognized it as such. "I don't want to begrudge you your happiness, Isabella," her father said. "But you know how I feel about this."

Isabella did know. She could have suspected _before_ last night, but after the argument she had had with her father once he had come home there was no way around it. Basically, he felt that she was moving on too fast. That she was leaping into the arms of Ferb, a young man she'd never even considered romantically before, solely in order to get away from her heartbreak. It wasn't very different from what her mother and her friends and even she herself had argued, but somehow coming from her father it stung harder. Because, as she had spat at him, it was a bit rich for him to come in at the last moment and make grand statements about Ferb, a boy that he hardly even knew because he was never here anyway.

It was an unusually harsh thing for her to say, and she had recognized it as such and apologized immediately. She did know that he didn't _want_ to spend so much time away from home as he did, and that he was only worried about her. They had reconciled and she had told him that she'd keep them updated and get home early tonight. He still wasn't happy with the situation, but he was smiling at her right now, and she was enough of an optimist this morning to feel that he'd come around in time.

"I know, Dad," she thus said. "But you can trust me, I promise. And you can trust Ferb, too."

Her father smiled. "I suppose I can."

He didn't say anything else about the matter all throughout breakfast, which allowed Isabella to go on with her day as normal. By ten in the morning, as she was used to, she made her way over to the Flynn-Fletcher home. She could hear the sounds of hammers and nails from a distance and smiled as she walked into the yard. The metallic horses looked so incredibly lifelike that it could only be the work of her two favorite brothers. It was so impressive, so unique, so _familiar_ that she couldn't help but grin.

She had always loved horses anyway.

"Hey, Phineas," she greeted automatically. She caught the look in her proto-boyfriend's eyes and added to her greeting. "Hey, Ferb." She was rewarded by the satisfaction of seeing happy surprise on his face. "Whatcha doing?"

"Hey, Isabella," Phineas replied, his voice brimming with excitement. "You're going to love the route that Ferb and I put together. Candace is still inside, but she'll be out here in a second."

Isabella took a closer look at the steeds in front of her – so realistically made, and yet undoubtedly capable of much more than any ordinary horse. One was black as charcoal, the other one was white. "Which one's mine and Ferb's?" She was asking. She didn't need to. She knew the answer.

"The white one," Phineas said. "Ferb insisted on it. I guess he thinks that white is your color."

"Hmm-hmm?" Isabella replied, a smirk on her face as she glanced over at the boy who didn't even have the audacity not to smirk back. He knew. He was setting himself up as Prince Charming on purpose, the knight on the white steed riding in to swoop her off her feet. And he knew that _she_ would recognize that that was what he was doing – in fact, her catching on was the whole reason he was doing it. It was all a subtle game of teasing and flirting, and it was… so _different_ from anything with Phineas.

And maybe, it was _better_ than anything with Phineas.

"Hey Isabella," Candace greeted, walking into the yard. "Phineas. Are you ready to go?"

"I don't know," Phineas replied, sounding unusually playful. "Are _you_?"

Candace snorted and clasped a hand over her fist. "Give me some credit, Phin. I'm not gonna let some _busting_ urge stop me when there's a race to be won."

Phineas grinned. "That's my sister." He walked over to the map he had mentioned before and unfolded it. "We start from our backyard. We go round Danville Mountain, through the park, across the lake, under the tunnel, over the highway, across the state line, round the lake, through the forest, past the superstore, through the mall, across the inner city and back to our house. Ferb has brought refreshments and we can always make a pit stop at a Slushy Burger store if we want to. Be careful, though: they haven't gotten any better." He grinned. "Any questions?"

"Uh…" Isabella began, studying the extensive map before her.

"Excellent! Then let's get started!" He pulled a lever on a device that she hadn't even noticed yet, which unfolded what appeared to be a start and finish line in the backyard. "The horses should be big enough to carry both of your weights, and our weights. We have seatbelts – Candace insisted on it – but I wouldn't recommend putting them on unless it's really necessary because it takes something out of the thrill of the ride. We also have extendable pillows that you should be able to fall on if you happen to get thrown off the horse. We start off here now, and it would be great if we could be back by 4, because as you know, Mom's got pie ready by that hour." He smiled. "This is going to be awesome! And you see, because we needed something to make up for all the stuff we've just gone through, Ferb and I made it especially rewarding, because if your team makes it across the finish line first, you –"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Candace cut in. "We've got to get going. If I can't bust you," she winked at him, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning against him, "then I've got to bust _someone_, and beating our brother and your friend here at horse riding will have to do."

"How sweet," Ferb remarked dryly. Isabella snorted, the mild annoyance that she had felt for a moment at Candace invoking her relationship with Phineas evaporating. She nudged Ferb in the side. He even had the audacity to look innocent.

They got onto their horses in turn, Ferb taking his position before her as Phineas took his before Candace. It gave her another opportunity to wrap her arms around his chest, which was… beginning to become a thing between them, wasn't it? Especially after last Saturday, and this time she knew her intentions weren't _quite_ as innocent as they had been then.

He still felt warm, steady and surprisingly vibrant and alive for someone of his background stoicism. She had wrapped her arms around Phineas during situations like this before, of course, and though she had done so precisely because she wanted to invoke romance it had always been about her own preconceived ideas of what romance was like. She had felt giddy because of the _fact_ that she was holding onto Phineas and because that was a thing romantic couples did, not because of anything that physical closeness was actually making her feel.

It was different, now.

Isabella had a good feeling about this.

"Ladies and gentleman!" Phineas called out. "Are you ready?" Isabella nodded, while Candace just looked tense. The girl hadn't been kidding early that she was going to make a competition out of this, hadn't she? Well, two could play that game.

Phineas motioned towards Ferb, who took a small device out of his pocket and pressed a button. They heard a loud bang, and the next moment Isabella felt herself almost being thrown off – thankfully she was holding solidly onto Ferb – as the horses shot forwards at high speeds. The wind blew through her hair, but she rallied herself, allowing the rush of the experience to take over.

It was amazing. Really, that shouldn't be a surprise. Hanging out with Phineas and Ferb was _always_ fun in unique ways that no one else could come up with, regardless of whether her hopes that Phineas would finally see the light of her affections were actually fulfilled that day. (And, of course, they never truly were.) Whether it was travelling to Mars, starting a restaurant, creating rides that easily transcended anything the most expensive theme parks could come up with, or defying the laws of physics in any other way, good times were there to be had and she could appreciate them in the end. Today was no different from that, and yet the fact that it was no different made her appreciate it so much more.

Because for a time, it had looked like things _were_ going to be different. With Phineas. With Ferb. There had been so much tension, and now… now they could let it go. Things had changed, but they had also stayed the same, and Isabella hadn't realized just how much she had missed that until now.

That was why when she looked at Phineas and Candace next to them, she could forget about their relationship for a moment – or when she couldn't, think of it merely as a reason for her and Ferb to trounce them in the race. Because she wanted to _keep_ this, keep hanging out with her friends, and those differences of opinion weren't what she wanted to focus on.

The wind was in her hair.

The sun shone brightly on her face, both it and the coat she was wearing stopping her from noticing the cold.

Ferb was pressed up against her.

_That_ was what mattered to Isabella-Garcia Shapiro right now.

They surged over the main road towards Danville Mountain, with Isabella nudging Ferb on as the road narrowed. He got her hint (_so unlike Phineas_, her mind whispered, which was perhaps kind of mean but it was still true and she didn't feel bad about appreciating just how well they were working as a team) and they managed to overtake Phineas and Candace's horse just in time for them to take the lead before the road got so narrow that Phineas couldn't return the favor. Isabella glanced over her shoulder to see the grimace on Candace's face, which made it all the more satisfying. (And no, she certainly didn't care whether _that_ was petty. They had a race to win here, you know.)

They got to Danville Mountain, and to no surprise the horses didn't slow down as they went around the mountain on their steeper, shallower paths. Isabella glanced upwards. "You know, it would have been fun if you'd run the route to go _over_ the mountain instead of around it," she commented. Ferb didn't respond verbally, but his head shifted slightly, and that was enough for her. She… could tell he agreed with her, though she wasn't exactly sure how she could tell. He _was_ Ferb Fletcher, after all.

They ploughed ahead towards Danville Park, where they managed to get a bigger advantage upon their pursuers as Phineas brought the black horse to a halt at the ice cream vendor. For a moment, Isabella was confused and nudged for Ferb to slow down, wondering what he was up to, but the fact that Phineas was handing over money to buy ice cream for himself and his sister was so essentially him that she still chuckled at it. They could have seen this coming, she supposed, even if it didn't stop Candace from being annoyed.

"Now?" She asked, as he handed an ice cream cone to her. "Seriously? We're already behind, you know."

"You're never so far behind that there's no time for ice cream," Phineas replied. "Besides, isn't this about the fun of the game rather than about winning? Won't the true joy be in going on all sorts of fun rides together, and in the memories that we will have of it once we get back to the yard?"

"No!" Candace exclaimed. "So get on with it!"

Her brother kicked his horse in gear with a chuckle and resumed the chase. Isabella glanced away from them and ahead as they went out of the park. They were travelling at speeds that ordinary horses would never reach, and Isabella supposed that it was a good thing that it was late autumn, or there would have been people around whom they'd have to dodge. Right now, there were a whole lot of trees, but Phineas and Ferb were doing an expert job at avoiding all obstacles and staying on the straight and narrow path. It was hard, and it was all the more frustrating to Isabella because she wasn't holding the reins right now. (Maybe she could do that later.) All she could do was hold on to Ferb and watch as he went under the tree branches, around the garbage can…

"Ferb!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Rock!"

For a moment, actual fear entered her eyes as it seemed they were heading straight for a large rock at the exit gate of the park, and then Ferb expertly maneuvered into what had to be an over 50-degree turn to avoid it just in time, swing around several trees and exit the park. He glanced towards her, and now that she was learning his tells she could practically see the smug expression on his face. She punched him in the side, unable to be really mad at him for that. "You really _are_ a show-off, aren't you?" she muttered. Oh, she had to find a way to get him back for this somehow.

They were headed towards the lake. This time, long experience with these two and an innate confidence that they could do anything stopped her from being caught off-guard as they leaped over the ramp and onto the water – and the rocket boosters activated. They weren't strong enough to actually let them _fly_, apparently, but they could bounce in much greater jumps than they normally could, which was more fun anyway. Isabella usually didn't even see the boats before they landed on them, surprising the fishermen and sailors before bouncing off again. They were across the lake in no time, just one final jump and then…

…and then they splashed into the water.

Thankfully, they were close enough to the edge of the lake that they surfaced almost right away and managed to keep afloat… somehow. Isabella gave Ferb a look as the British boy sheepishly smiled at her. "Alright, that's a good thing to keep in mind – don't try to bounce over driftwood," she said dryly. She looked ahead to the beach, which they were still some twenty feet away from. They could _wade_ there, drag the horse along (whose mechanics thankfully didn't seem to be shorting out), but… "I hope you and Phineas prepared for this?"

This time, Ferb gave her a more genuine smile, as he flicked a switch that let two wings extend from the horse. Again, they didn't let the metal animal _fly_, but combined with the engine they were enough to stabilize them and propel them forwards onto the beach. Ferb and Isabella took a moment to shake off the water before noticing that Phineas and Candace had surpassed them. Candace was in the front seat this time, yelling something as she saw them – Isabella couldn't quite hear what it was, but from the tone, she could tell that it was some kind of victory yell.

Oh, it was _on_ now.

And thus, they raced. They raced across the state line, over the highway, where Isabella (having taken the front seat) managed to overtake their opponents again. They got across the state line, over a long thin stretch, where the race between the four of them really came to fruition. They charged ahead, ever faster it seemed, and even Phineas got more focused – which was kind of odd to see, given how mellow about his team's chances Isabella had always seen him be in situations like this.

But then again, in those cases, his team hadn't included _Candace_, had it?

That thought alone was enough to cause some instinctive irritation, and because Isabella knew it wasn't going away she channeled it into the race. They fell behind their opponents several times before overtaking them again as they plowed through the thick forest, before they found themselves in the superstore.

More specifically, in the elevators.

Isabella blinked, looking around. "Wait – how did we end up _here_?" she exclaimed. "Why?"

"Well, we've already been up and down the _escalators_," Ferb pointed out.

The Fireside Girl stared at him. "Very funny. So what do we do now? We won't be at the ground floor for another couple of minutes this way."

He handed her a cup of tea.

Isabella couldn't stop herself from smirking (and to be honest, she actually did appreciate the beverage). "I thought you told your cousin you weren't that British?"

In response, he handed her a hotdog and put on a baseball cap.

She shoved him in the side, he returned the gesture, and by the time the elevator doors again opened on the bottom floor it actually took Phineas clearing his throat in the lobby before they both managed to return their attention away from each other and to the race for long enough to realize that, you know, they could go _on_ now. Isabella blushed, but she wasn't above taking advantage of the opportunity and charged forwards, sprinting past Phineas and Candace. The other girl only wasted a moment to gawk before turning their horse in hot pursuit. Ah, the thrill of the chase.

It was a good day. Isabella had always had faith in that, knowing her favorite set of siblings as she did. But as the hours went by, she realized that it was a _great_ day. She was hanging out with her best friends, she was experiencing all sorts of different things, and everything finally felt right with the world again. And now if she could win this race, it would be _perfect_.

The race lasted for a long, long time, but by four P.M. they were in the homestretch. After trading the lead with their opponents several more times Isabella and Ferb managed to achieve a good advance in the inner city by going through smaller roads that Isabella had explored with the Fireside Girls, but by the time the roads opened up wider as they headed towards Maple Drive their advantage was lost. For a while, Isabella hoped that they were far ahead enough that it wouldn't make a difference. They could win, right? Of course they could. They'd be fine…

Ferb tapped Isabella on the side of her chest. Slightly irritated, she turned around to see his sister, her eyes narrowed and focused, and headed straight towards them.

Seeing Candace and Phineas' horse like that on the horizon, gaining ground on them at a rapid speed, fazed Isabella, but only for a moment. She looked at Ferb. "Are the rocket boosters up to speed?" she asked. Her boyfriend replied by flicking further switches and she could feel their horse changing, gearing up, going ever faster.

Ferb was doing all sorts of things behind her now. What exactly they were, Isabella didn't know. It didn't matter either. What mattered was Candace gaining on them even still, and the satisfaction that every time she looked the other girl was still behind her. What mattered was the finish line up ahead. What mattered was Ferb's arm around her chest and his warm breath against her neck that gave her the strength to actually pull this off.

It was tense. It was dangerous, even if she felt totally safe. It was unparalleled. And she relished every second.

Finally, both horses surged across the finish line at the same time, and for a moment Isabella wasn't sure which of them had carried it off. She managed to steer the horse to a halt and tried to catch her breath, not even realizing at first that Ferb had dismounted behind her. He walked over to… some kind of gadget attached to the finish line? Belatedly, her mind realized that it was the timer Phineas had mentioned. She glanced over to the others as they waited, none apparently daring to speak as they waited. Candace was tight-lipped, and even Phineas was focused as he stared at his brother.

And then Ferb looked up. And he smiled – at _her_.

"We did it!" Isabella exclaimed, running over to him and embracing him. She pecked him on both cheeks, only realizing what she was doing as she caught the embarrassed expression on his face.

"I take it you don't want to see me and Phineas do that?" Candace asked. Her tone was lighthearted, but Isabella could see her irritation at being beaten on her face.

"Why would you?" she replied smugly, to a question she would have been made thoroughly uncomfortable by only a day or two ago. "After all, you lost." Candace grimaced, and as Phineas briefly put an arm around her shoulder Isabella could only feel satisfied. Winning this race just felt so _good_. (And so did embracing Ferb, actually.) "But seriously, no, don't. I don't want to see any of that."

Candace let out a theatrical sigh. "Figures," she mumbled. "Even now, I never win anything."

"Come on, sis," Phineas said, as he was handing Ferb and Isabella two medals that looked rather like Olympic medals. They were shiny enough that the Fireside Girl wondered whether they might actually be real gold, but regardless of whether they were, she already knew her medal was getting a special place next to her trophies. "There's always next time."

"Just like with busting," his sister murmured. "And that certainly went off well." She looked over the two metal horses and glanced anxiously at the house. "So…"

Before she could say any more, the two horses lifted off the ground and vanished into the sky. Candace blinked rapidly, staring at the place their race horses had only just been. "That…" she stammered. "Was that a giant magnet?"

"Looks like it, yes," Phineas replied. "The…" Ferb held up four fingers. "…fourth, thus far, in one year." He smiled. "Well, back to pie it is then. Mom ought to be home soon." As if to punctuate his words, Isabella heard a car coming up the driveway.

Candace sighed, staring wistfully into the distance. "You know, it would be nice if one day we _didn't_ have to go back to pie," she said. "If we could really… explore this, and see where it takes us. I always wanted to see what you could achieve without the Force just throwing it all out."

"I never knew you liked our inventions so much, sis?" Phineas said teasingly.

"Hey, if they're going to run roughshod over my day anyway, they might as well go all the way," Candace teased back. "And besides, even you have to admit that it'd be nice to see other people use the stuff you guys made, and not just for one day. To be famous."

"Well, I _told_ you we don't do this to compete," Phineas pointed out. "Or to be rich and famous. But if you think it's fun, then sure, we can look into it one day. As long as you help us, of course."

He grinned at his sister, who blinked in surprise for a moment and then smiled faintly. "I guess? It would be neat to have some kind of role to play that doesn't just amount to yelling to get mom here so that she can stop something that…" She hesitated, and Phineas put an arm around her. "That I shouldn't want to stop, perhaps. Because even though I may sometimes dislike it… it's your life. And I never… I never _seriously_ meant to hurt you. To permanently stop you from doing your thing. I just… couldn't live with it, especially since I never got to do _anything_ like that. But it's okay. I'll just need to learn to deal with it. And I know I _can_, I know because I loved every second of it today, but it's just going to be a bumpy ride to get there."

There was an awkward silence, and even Isabella felt a pang of sympathy for the older girl. As… strange and inexplicable as Candace's behavior had sometimes been, it was obvious that her feelings about it were real. To distract her from her misery (and to keep Phineas from stepping in even _further_) Isabella spoke up. "Yeah, and weren't Phineas and Ferb in Switzerland in the future we saw?" she asked. "Or something like that, at least."

"I… think so, yeah?" Candace replied. 'I'm not sure." She smiled at her brothers and ruffled their hair. "And you guys left me behind in Danville, didn't you? Yeah, that's not happening this time. Not on your lives."

"You do realize that we'll bring our projects along with us," Phineas teased, leaning against her. "How are you going to bust us there, Candace?"

"Oh, I'll find a way," his sister teased back, shoving him away. "Maybe there, the Mysterious Force will even work in my favor. Did you ever consider _that_? And then I'll be able to summon an entire avalanche to smash your stupid little inventions and keep you cooped up inside the house. And I'll be out enjoying the finest spas and resorts of Switzerland, maybe with Stacy or something, and I'll keep you two locked up in the basement, 'cause I'll be in charge of you, and you'll have to do _anything_ I'll tell you to." She grinned. "See how you'd like _that_ for a change."

"Ah, but you wouldn't ever do that, sis," Phineas replied confidently.

"And why not?"

"Because you're in _loooove_ with me. Remember? You told me so yourself."

Candace lunged for him, but Phineas handily jumped out of her grasp and she gave him a frustrated look, groaning as she turned back to the rest of them. "Don't ever tell your sibling you're in love with him," she muttered. "You'll never hear the end of it."

Isabella knew it was all light-hearted banter, but she couldn't help but feel a tinge of awkwardness as she looked at Candace and Phineas there. Before she could say anything about it, though, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Ferb – because of course it was Ferb. Supporting her as he'd always done. She took his hand and pressed it, silently expressing her gratitude for his support. From the looks of it, his expression didn't change, but she thought she could see a flicker of emotion – surprise, happiness – in the corner of his eyes for only a brief moment.

"You're picking me up at…7?" she guessed. Ferb nodded. "Okay, I'll be ready then. Hopefully these two will be done bantering with each other by then."

This time, the smile she saw was undoubtedly real, even if Ferb cheekily tried to conceal it from her right away. (Let him _try_.)

She said hi to Phineas and Candace, getting the barest acknowledgement from the latter and a more extensive goodbye from Phineas until Candace… _manually_ turned his face back towards herself. Isabella hastily beat it out of the yard, sending a final wave at Ferb as she walked home, feeling only exhilaration.

She had hung out with Ferb. She had won a race together with him. She had managed to laugh and relax despite being around Phineas and Candace.

How much more challenging could tonight's date be?

_FERB_

Ferb had dedicated more time to preparing for tonight than he had to anything in his life, save for solving the mystery of the vanishing chalkboard in first grade. (It had been Phineas' idea of a prank, done because the boy had noticed everyone appearing bored and depressed and he wanted to spice up their lives. In retrospect, his stepbrother's nervous giggling had made it obvious, but they had been very young and he hadn't known Phineas or his classmates that well yet.) And as he walked out of the house at a few minutes before seven, his mind took the time of the familiar walk to the house across the street – a walk that was undertaken for oh-so-unfamiliar purposes – to stack up all the advice he had been given for dating the girl from across the street for one final time.

First, there had been Phineas, who had told him not to overthink things, and that Isabella might actually genuinely love him back. Candace had told him to relax and take it slowly, but also to take in mind how Isabella might be worried in turn and to show her how he wasn't perfect. His parents had told him that too much passion in one go would be hard to maintain. Their emphasis on slowness had been counteracted at least by Buford, who had made him realize that Isabella _knew_ him, and that neither over- nor underperforming would show her the real Ferb Fletcher she deserved to see. Irving had added to that by his footage of Isabella wishing to be swept off her feet, and the Fireside Girls had certainly not disagreed with his plans there, only adding a few pointers here and there.

It had been an interesting week. When looking back at the advice he had been given, Ferb found that it was pretty easy to summarize it into the two contradictory messages of taking things slowly (whether that was because he'd overwhelm Isabella otherwise, because he didn't need grandiose spectacles as she already cared about him, or because a relationship that was too intense couldn't be kept up) versus encouragement to show how much he cared (because taking things slowly wasn't true to who they were, and because as Irving and the Fireside Girls had indicated, that was what Isabella would _want_).

It had been a difficult dilemma in his preparations for tonight. Because honestly, none of the pep talks he had had had undermined his natural instinct for showmanship, and his feeling that now above all, he needed to make a good impression. He was Phineas' replacement, and even if Isabella already believed he was a worthy one he wanted to prove it to her. Like with Vanessa, it wasn't in his nature _not_ to show off.

But he would need to be careful. He would need to be responsible. Because if he was going to do this, he would not want Isabella to feel pressured and uncomfortable. He would need to keep an eye on her, to check when he was going too far, and sometimes even leave the initiative to her – to give up some of that control, because things _could_ go fine when he didn't have it.

Because Isabella wouldn't instantly leave him the moment he stopped putting up the act for her. If that were true – if it was only an act – they would be worse off than Jeremy and Candace.

Oh well. There had been plenty of time to think about that all week, but it was over now, and Ferb had a broad idea of what to do which would have to be enough. It was exactly 7 PM, which meant that it was show time.

Ferb rang the doorbell of the Garcia-Shapiro home, which was opened by Isabella's mother. Vivian broadly smiled at him, ushering him into the living room while going on and on about how handsome he looked. Ferb didn't spot Isabella, but he did see her father, giving him a suspicious glance. Still, he didn't appear to be aggressive, being content to just sit there and stare at Ferb. Ferb, not one to be daunted, stared back. This was… inevitable, he supposed. Obviously Isabella's parents were going to judge him differently now that he was going to date their daughter. It was only one more reason why making a good impression mattered.

After a while, Isabella's father broke their gaze and nodded, a sign that Ferb took as an indication of approval. He felt relief go through him. This was good. He'd withstood the first test of the night. But he hadn't even faced his date yet.

"Ferb?"

The green-haired boy turned around to look at Isabella, and blinked. She… was pretty. For sure. Isabella had always been pretty, and although she had dressed up for the occasion, she had dressed up last Saturday too, so there was no need to over-romanticize this moment and claim that he was swooning before her like the boyfriends in the movies, and yet… there was something about her that made him pause for a second. Which made him feel warm inside and feel that urge to impress her with his efforts for tonight much more strongly. Perhaps it was because this time, she had dressed up for him. Not for his brother. For him.

He composed himself and held out his hand, which she took – and unlike that one night when the Whalemingo planet almost collided with Earth, he knew that this time she was well aware of what she was doing. He smiled at her and lead her out the door. It was only just a minute past seven, but just as he had planned, the limousine was waiting. Isabella let out a short gasp, nudged him in the side, and walked ahead.

There was a…. curious expression on her face. She was grateful, obviously, maybe happy, but… Ferb couldn't quite place it. Had he won her over? Was she being overwhelmed? Was this simply a sign of her gratitude for this one little thing that could ebb away, or was it something that would stick with her for the rest of the night?

Oh well. He _couldn't_ overthink this. Sighing, he sat down next to his date, admiring her from the corner of his eye. She _did_ look beautiful, and radiant. How was Phineas passing this up? He had to _really_ be into Candace. Ferb was reminded of Phineas rambling about _their_ plans for the evening, which had apparently boiled down to a movie date in the living room. He had no idea how his siblings were imagining pulling that off while their parents were actually home this time, but in the end he had figured that it simply wasn't any of his business. He had to lay off Phineas and Candace and trust them to be responsible. After all, as Phineas had reminded him, things _had_ worked out for him in the end.

His train of thought was disrupted as he noticed Isabella focusing her attention from the car towards him and shuffling closer. He put a hand on her back, which she accepted easily. "It's beautiful, Ferb," she said. "This is exactly what I always dreamed of. Phineas would never…" She shook her head and chuckled awkwardly. 'I'm sorry. This is our date, and I shouldn't be talking about your brother. Even if it is to complain about him." Her eyes twinkled as she winked at him.

Frankly, Ferb was not expecting to escape comparison with Phineas tonight. It was inevitable, and given who Isabella was, he couldn't expect anything else from her, not at first. He just hoped that he – and his preparations – could stand the test. Mentally, he reviewed his plans for the dinner. The Fireside Girls' advice had been sound, as had his meteorological forecasts. All things that had needed to be prepared had been prepared, and all relevant knowledge was in his mind. Now he just had to carry it out to perfection. If he could just…

A glass was held under his nose, and he almost didn't notice it. "Fancy a bubble water?" Isabella asked. "I found it in this cupboard, and it'd be a waste not to take advantage of it now that we're here."

Ferb took the glass and set it to his lips, nodding briefly. Isabella smirked at him, looking so surprisingly confident and at ease in his presence. "You can talk, you know," she replied. "You don't have to act all enigmatic about _bubble water_. I don't mind your silence, but I'd like to hear your voice once or twice tonight."

Ferb chuckled. "Fair enough," he said. Isabella looked at him, waiting whether he would say anything more, and he enjoyed the glimpse of realization and fond exasperation when she caught on. "Oh, _come_ on," she complained, although he could see she wasn't really upset. "'Speaking two words' was not what I meant and you _know_ it."

Ferb remained silent, but now it was not a habitual silence but an intentional one – which was far more fun. Isabella continued to occasionally glance in his direction, _looking_ as if she was aggravated – but she also put an arm around his shoulder. Okay, so it was to pinch his neck, but she left it there afterwards and that was what counted.

They got to the restaurant, and Ferb made sure to open the door on Isabella's side. She gave him a gracious look as she got out of the limousine. When he wanted to let go of her hand, however, she held on, instead turning to him with a ravishing smile that almost made him stumble back. She chuckled at his reaction and used her other hand to pat his, gazing affectionately into his eyes.

This… was not going how he'd anticipated it to go. Better than anticipated? Perhaps. At least his charms weren't scaring her off.

"Where to?" she asked him. Which was fortunate, as it was a question he knew the answer to. He gently twirled her loose and walked up to the table with her, sitting down opposite her. He tried to covertly take in not just her appearance, but her stance. Like she had in the car, she seemed to be… relaxed. At ease to a greater extent than he had expected her to be. She was a _bit_ twitchy here and there, but all that did was confirm to him that she was human and not some kind of random Isabella-clone-robot that had been offered up to him for the date for… reasons.

It seemed that he was doing things right thus far, then. There was no need to worry about how Isabella felt about everything. It probably wasn't the right moment to move on to the next stage yet, though – that should only happen when…

"Ferb?" Isabella spoke up. "Why are you staring at me?"

Ferb blinked, staring back at those sharp, dark blue eyes, so intensely focused on him. He had been staring at her, he supposed, but it hadn't occurred to him that she would actually notice. He was too used to just observing from the distance, without being in the center of attention unless he specifically seized it.

But now he did have Isabella's attention, and she was leaning forward with her hands cupped around her face. "Let me guess," she said teasingly, and Ferb could feel his cheeks getting hotter. "You were trying to figure me out, weren't you? To see whether I was appreciating what you were doing even when I would think you weren't looking." Ferb blinked, but nodded slowly, and she grinned. "I knew it!"

Well, that was a surprise. Isabella… was clever, sure, but he hadn't expected her to notice him and realize what he was doing. She never had before – the only one who had paid enough close attention to him for it was Phineas, and he had always been oblivious.

"It's fine, Ferb," Isabella spoke up, misinterpreting the reason for his shock. "I really did love that limousine. And I'm having a good time."

Well, at least she couldn't read _everything_ on his face, right? That was… well, it _should_ be a relief. Logically speaking. He didn't just want anyone to be having access to his inner thoughts and feelings.

And yet, it felt oddly comforting. That Isabella had picked up on his emotions, and that she had cared enough to reassure him. It warmed his heart, and suddenly the fact that there was someone who could look into that oh-so-closely guarded place didn't really matter anymore.

Because it was Isabella.

He trusted Isabella.

He _loved_ Isabella.

So maybe he should return the favor.

He put his hand back on hers, and they gazed into each other's eyes. It was… relaxing. A bit of a cliché, perhaps, but he enjoyed the close contact, and he could tell that Isabella did, too. Her pulse slowed down, the anxiety he could feel went away. Everything felt perfect. It was Isabella's romantic dream, with him there instead of with Phineas, but it was as it should be. He felt that it was, and he could tell that _Isabella_ felt that it was, too.

They sat there for a while until a waiter dropped by to ask what they wanted to drink and eat, and everything about their dinner date proceeded as it should from there. Isabella talked about lots of stuff, including everything she hadn't had a chance to tell him – or indeed share with anyone at their house – about her experiences over the past couple of weeks. Ferb tried to add his own insights, be it through a soft interjection or a raised eyebrow, and he was pleased to note that she responded well to it, taking him seriously and laughing at his humor. That was good. Things were – still – going well.

As dinner came, Ferb subtly nodded to one of the waiters behind his date, who in turn gestured to the manager, who in turn gestured to the kitchen, who in turn probably gestured to a ton of other places before an orchestra walked into the street in front of them. It had two drums, three trumpets and a triangle.

Isabella didn't even notice, he saw, until they were already at their table, and even then her expression remained confused until they started playing. Then she snapped towards him with her eyes widening and a smile of disbelief and gratitude on her face. This time, he didn't mind one bit showing her how happy and satisfied he felt that everything had gone to plan.

The thought of getting an orchestra had been in his mind for a while, but he had imagined hiring one to play either all sorts of different styles or a specific upbeat set of Mexican tunes. It had been Adyson who had suggested starting off with more melancholy Jewish music that Isabella had told her she'd used to play when feeling sad over Phineas or any other things that could weigh even her down. It had been a bit of a gamble, but he had trusted Isabella's friends to know her best, and from the touched reverence with which Isabella was staring at the orchestra, it had been the right call.

"You talked to the girls, didn't you?" she finally asked, turning towards him. "Yesterday."

"You talked to my brother," Ferb retorted.

Isabella smiled and nodded. "And to Candace. And to Mom, and to my troupe… and to Irving, even. All just to find out whom I was actually going out with." She shook her head. "Fundamentally, of course, I already knew who you were. That I could be expecting something like this. But I still learned a lot about you in the past week. And yet… you keep catching me by surprise tonight." She grinned, patting his hand. "But that's good. I just hope I can return the favor."

Ferb had to raise an eyebrow at that. Returning the favor? That was… a possibility, of course, but the thought of Isabella doing something for _him_ tonight sat strangely with him. Not that she couldn't, or shouldn't, but… it wasn't what he had planned. It wasn't her role to impress him, now was it? Why would Isabella even _want_ to impress him, or feel the need for that?

She wouldn't have done that before, no. She had been impress_ive_, but not necessarily towards _him_. Not even towards Phineas, unless you counted dreamily singing his virtues where he couldn't hear her 'impressing'. (Though Ferb was sure his brother, being who he was, had appreciated Isabella's skills and kindness anyway despite how much more closely his senses were attuned to seeing that in their sister.)

But things had changed. _Isabella_ had changed. Not just _to_ him, making him go from seeing her as a friend to a potential girlfriend, but apparently also _for_ him. And it only followed logically from all the efforts he had made over the past week to see her differently and from how he had bumped into her at Irving's, that she would start seeing _him_ differently as well.

That kind of appreciation was certainly something to be thankful for, so he told her as much, before they both fell silent again. Concentrating on the music and their dinner. Ferb had thought of ordering flowers, but he had eventually dismissed that in favor of not overwhelming his date. Maybe it would have worked after all, given how relaxed Isabella seemed to be. But this… this was good enough.

Time went by easily. Ferb had wondered whether he would need to speak up time and time again in order to avoid awkward silences, but in practice he barely had to say any words at all. Isabella talked, but it was different from Phineas' eager chattering. Less restless, and giving him time to respond both verbally _and_ non-verbally. If Isabella really had spent as much time picking up information about how to deal with him as he had about the inverse, he could commend her sources.

Or… maybe this wasn't just because of the people she had talked to.

Maybe it was just her natural empathy and compassion shining through.

Maybe she _did_ like him.

Ferb was sure that both his brother and his sister would have thought tonight's whole date was just a bit too boring. (Candace would either have loudly complained or bit her lip throughout to avoid causing the slightest bit of offence; Phineas would have constantly gone on how this was cool, sure, but with a _minor_ change it could be _juuust_ perfect.) Maybe they would have even been right. But it was a first date, they were testing the waters (something both of his siblings would have been able to recognize, at least) and regardless, they _were_ having fun.

They shared anecdotes and jokes. Sometimes gentle and not-so-gentle ribs at the people around them, and sometimes even humor about themselves, as Isabella opened up far more about her inner feelings than he would have imagined possible. He could tell that she appreciated his sarcasm, the dry subtle wit he used almost without thinking. Phineas had never really been a fan of that, not knowing quite well what to do with it. Candace had been more blunt, and though she did share several aspects of his sense of humor they had never quite been on the same wavelength.

Isabella, though… Isabella challenged him. Sometimes she laughed alongside him, amused despite herself, or threw in a surprisingly edgy joke of her own… but something she'd call him out that he was going too far. And the strange thing was that he didn't mind. He acknowledged and adapted to her corrections while barely even realizing that was what he was doing.

Because it was friendly.

Because they got along.

Because they – dare he say it – _matched_.

Time went by, and eventually they ran out of food and the dinner gradually came to an end. Ferb kept one eye on the clock, knowing well that it was almost time, and yet not being sure how to bring it up. What if she wasn't ready? Or worse, what if she _was_ ready, to get it all over with as soon as he paid the bill?

Ferb wasn't Candace. He had never really felt the level of insecurities that his sister felt about the world around him. He was calmer, and less easily swayed by what other people thought of him. Sure, he overthought his actions, but afterwards he simply carried them out without much concern, let alone self-blame, for the consequences.

But tonight had been different. Because he _did_ care what Isabella thought of him. Because he couldn't _not_ care. And as much attention as he paid to analyzing others' actions, especially the fact that the girl had noticed him doing just that, he still couldn't tell every last fact of what Isabella wanted, and whether she was satisfied with what he was doing – or, more fundamentally, with who he was.

And who he was did matter. Because though Ferb may not be Candace, he wasn't Phineas either.

And only when he could resolve whether he had made up for that could he leave this date feeling content.

So he felt anxious. He felt his heart skip as he looked into her eyes, he felt his hand tremble ever so slightly as he caught her look towards the clock, he felt the dissatisfaction in his mind and unease in his heart as he was unsure about something he simply needed to know, he…

…he felt…

…she felt…

…she felt anxious. Because he was staring at her again. And though Isabella could guess that it was simply because he was nervous too, that thought did not make her feel much more comfortable.

It had been a good night, so far at least. Ferb had provided her almost effortlessly with the romantic night of her dreams. He had been charming, friendly and yet human in his nervousness, and she had enjoyed herself quite a lot. The food had been good, conversation had been friendly and clever, and neither she nor Ferb had fallen to pieces at the thought of going out with each _other_ rather than Phineas or Vanessa. (In fact, she hadn't thought about Phineas _romantically_, or about the pain she'd had over Candace, for all evening.) This was something she could see herself doing again.

She _wanted_ to do it again.

And as the end of the night drew near, it was communicating that to Ferb that she was most preoccupied with.

She needed to show him that she cared about his feelings. The outing to the mountaintop could show that. All was ready – and now it was time to prove herself.

She watched as Ferb paid the bill, knowing full well that an offer to contribute would be politely declined, and then cleared her throat. "That was nice, Ferb," she spoke up. "But there's one more thing that we should do tonight."

Ferb raised an eyebrow, and she smiled as she took out her phone to check that everything was ready before offering her arm up to him. She lead him to the alley besides the restaurant where the helicopter was waiting. She felt Ferb's reaction through the arm she was clinging to – a momentary tension followed by relaxation. Well, that was something she could work with. To avoid giving anything away, she deliberately kept her face turned away from him when she could, even as they bundled up in the helicopter. It was chilly, and unthinkingly she drew closer to him and they just sat there, leaning against each other and neither saying a word.

They landed on top of the mountain and made their way over to the spot she had chosen for them, Isabella once more leading the way. Everything had been set up beautifully. They had comfortable chairs, a nice place to sit, they had a complex system of lenses to amplify their sights when they should need it, and they had the eclipse. The eclipse that was actually already starting. They were just in time.

Isabella turned to Ferb. She hoped he'd be happy. That he'd be surprised. Instead, though his eyes were warm, he stood there with his arms folded. Why was he doing that? Had she done something wrong? Maybe she had. Maybe…

…maybe he was just cold. 'Cause come to think of it, it _was_ freezing.

She had forgotten to bring warm clothing. How could she have forgotten something so essential? She raised her voice to apologize just when Ferb took out a small package from underneath his jacket. He pressed a button and it inflated into two fancy winter coats.

Isabella stared at him for a full ten seconds, wordlessly letting Ferb put her coat on. How could he have known to bring along thick winter clothes? They lived in the city, Nick Bunyan's was in the city, and it hadn't gotten anywhere _near_ as chilly there over the past few days as it had on the high mountains – that was the reason this had slipped her mind, after all.

Sure, maybe it was just a case of Ferb being more prepared for anything than she was. That was natural, given his character and how much Phineas and Ferb could invent and easily take along with them even on trips like this, as the inflatable jacket demonstrated.

And yet, as the thermos of chocolate milk that Ferb offered to her indicated, that was not the full answer.

She was unsure whether to feel a slight tad of disappointment or if she should just be impressed and amused at the coincidence. Well, coincidence? Could it really be called that when this was Ferb – the guy who was prepared for everything? Part of her, when she thought about it, only felt flattered that he had gone the extra step for her, and she couldn't resent him for his choice – the sights up here were magnificent.

She looked at him closely. The vague amusement on his face gave it away, as it probably would have done earlier if she'd just looked more closely at his reactions during their helicopter ride.

"You planned for this too, didn't you?"


	8. Saturday (Isabella and Ferb)

**Author's Note:** _Wrapping up this story in what might be an underwhelming way... or not, because one shouldn't disparage one's own work right here in the notes. But this is the end, at least, and I hope that it at least fits in with the rest of the story._

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Ferb looked back at his date, not sure of the tone of her question. At first, when he had realized that she was taking him up the mountain to watch the eclipse exactly as he himself had planned, his internal reaction had been amusement at the coincidence. That feeling had stuck with him, but it had receded in favor of a continued sense of wonder at the fact that _she_ had something special planned, for _him_. And not just anything. How had she found out about how much this would mean to him? It wasn't like he talked about stargazing all the time. Phineas might have told her yesterday (though as much as Ferb loved his brother he doubted that it would have occurred to him). Irving might have found out somehow. But Candace probably didn't know, let alone Isabella herself. And the expressions on her face made it clear that she hadn't just _guessed_ he would like it. She had _believed_ that he would, and had been anxiously waiting for the confirmation of that.

So she had put in effort for him, and his first instinct had been to show that effort back. His own preparations for this outing had given him the means, and the cold had given him the opportunity. And he could tell that Isabella appreciated it.

But from her tone, it was as if she felt that she should have done more. Or that he hadn't had to do this. Which was… strange? Honestly, this gesture of appreciation from her was more than he would have expected, and it was nice to see that they had been able to complement each other.

So he nodded. And just like before, Isabella's face didn't _completely_ clear up. "That's great, Ferb," she assured him. "You did a really awesome job here, tonight. I just wish…" She blushed slightly, and Ferb leaned in closer towards her. She returned the favor, her black hair resting peacefully on his shoulder. "Never mind. There's… one more thing. A token of appreciation, if you will. Just wait right here."

She got up and darted off, leaving Ferb to wonder if she was talking about fireworks, perhaps? Those seemed like nice sights for a mountain outing, although he hoped that unlike Phineas, Isabella would know that those would only sully a beautiful eclipse.

And then she returned, and put a book in his hands.

Isabella didn't say anything. But she didn't have to, for he would recognize this book anywhere. It was the revised copy of the Stumbleberry Finkbat novelization. The words '_Stumbleberry Finkbat and the Return of the Fanservice'_ were neatly calligraphed on its cover. He had lost it in London, across the Atlantic, many months back, and he had presumed that it would stay lost since his family there hadn't been able to find it. But it was here, in his hands, brought to him by Isabella, the girl who until only a few months ago had only seen him as a casual acquaintance – who wouldn't go through what had to have been an immense effort to get the book back. For him.

But now, she had.

He looked up, and Isabella smiled, looking a bit anxious. "Is it okay? I heard at Irving's place that you'd lost this, and, well, the Fireside Girls _are_ an international organization. I wasn't sure whether we would be able to make it until tonight, but…"

She abruptly stopped as Ferb flung his arms around her, clutching her close. Isabella looked startled, but she returned the hug, smiled at him and then kissed him. It was a gentle kiss, at first… but this was no moment for self-control. Ferb deeply kissed her back, and they curled their arms even stronger around each other until she finally let go after… half a minute? Perhaps? He wasn't sure, he'd lost track of the time. Isabella was breathing heavily, but there was a contented smile on her face, and Ferb was sure that the same was the case for him. He looked into her eyes, marveling at her presence here with him, and could only say one thing.

"You _do_ like me."

* * *

It was such an innocent phrase, sounding so much more boyish and wide-eyed than she'd ever heard Ferb talk, that Isabella couldn't stop herself from snorting. "Of course," she replied, almost without thinking. "I love you."

She loved him. She loved Ferb Fletcher. Could it really be that simple? It sounded as if it shouldn't be… but Isabella was not one to let herself be deterred by that, and she knew how she felt right now. She had seen through the shell that Ferb clutched around him, and she had realized just how much she cared for the boy she had found underneath.

Ferb was still staring at her, and she knew – how did she know? – that his silence stemmed from shock more than from his long-standing vocal habits. "Listen, Ferb," she told him softly. "Last week I told you I wanted to try this road with you regardless of where it took us. I… still don't know where the road's going to take us, or where I want it to take us. But I do like this road. Enough to stay on it, for now and as long as I can foresee. As long as I can be on this road together with you."

In response, Ferb hugged her tighter. He buried his head into her shoulder before pulling back and looking into her eyes, apparently contemplating non-verbal communication before he spoke up. "I had hoped as much," he admitted. "But I didn't realize until tonight just how much I did, and how amazed I am by the fact that you feel this way."

"I've got to say, it's still a little strange for me too," Isabella replied, feeling that she couldn't deny him honesty if he was going to be honest with her. Secrecy didn't matter here, and more importantly, it didn't feel as if it _should_ matter. "It was all so sudden, and so different. And it made me keep wondering all week whether I really wanted this, or whether I just tried it for all sorts of reasons like guilt over ignoring you, or as a way to escape from facing up to Phineas and Candace." Ferb blinked, and she suddenly realized just how much it would have _shattered_ him if that was what she truly had been doing. (Even if he would never have shown it to the outside world.) "But I knew that couldn't be everything. Because I did come to care about you over the past months – more than I did before – and I knew everything I had felt on that night last week. So, I started talking to people. For advice, on how to approach this."

She took a deep breath. "They all told me different things. Mom told me not to take this too fast… but I still wanted to try it. The Fireside Girls told me this whole idea was crazy, but I defended dating you to them. And then they told me to impress you – I think that just about worked." She grinned at him, and was rewarded by a (cute) smile on Ferb's angular face. "Candace told me to just go for it, and, well, I did. Irving told me all sorts of little things about you, and Phineas told me that you and I were a better match that he and I could ever have been."

"I learned a lot from them. But the most important thing I learned, I think, was something I already knew somewhere deep down. That I wanted to try this with you. And, well, I'm not disappointed by the results."

Ferb didn't respond to her confession at first, but then he pressed her hand. He didn't say anything, but he looked at her, communicating warmth, gratitude, disbelief, happiness… all in one single guarded facial expression.

So maybe, this was better than words.

They sat there for a while yet. It, too, was silent, grandiose and yet understated. (Okay, maybe she was stretching to get the parallel with Ferb, and it _was_ hopelessly corny, but it was how she _felt_, okay?) It was beautiful, and with Ferb's arms wrapped so tightly around her, it felt perfect.

But all good things came to an end, and so, too, did their date. But as Ferb was getting up to gather their things before undoubtedly dropping her off home because he was such a gentleman, one final idea occurred to Isabella, and she tugged on her boyfriend's arm.

"Ferb?" she asked, blushing as he focused on her. "Okay, this might be a bit of a strange question up here, but… can we dance?"

Ferb raised an eyebrow, and after pondering her question for a second he smiled faintly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Isabella rolled her eyes and lightly shoved him. "No, it's not because of Candace getting to dance with Phineas," she said. "I'm over your brother, Ferb, and I'm not so resentful about what happened that I need to show up your sister in everything she does." That was true. It took _effort_ to feel that sting now, and increasingly she was beginning to wonder whether that vow she had made to try to accept Phineas and Candace might be more possible to fulfill than she'd thought. "From what you told me, that night didn't end very well anyway."

She sighed, and took Ferb's hands in hers, staring into his warm eyes. "I'd like to dance with you, Ferb, because I want to." She smiled. "Surely that's enough?"

Ferb nodded, reaching for his phone and presumably for the teleportation app. Isabella held his arm. "I don't want to teleport to a dance hall. We can dance there later. Right now, I want it to be the two of us. Alone, on the site of our first date."

She activated her own phone, turning on some of her favorite music – music she had always imagined dancing to one day. And as Ferb took her arms, she did it.

Sure, it was on an absurd location. It was the top of Danville mountain, with its many dangerous ridges and cliffs. No one else would even _think_ of dancing here. But Isabella knew she wouldn't fall, because she was being held by Ferb Fletcher. He was the boy who had always looked out for her, and who would continue to look out for her as long as she would let him – and right now, she was inclined to say that that would be for a long time yet.

Ferb Fletcher. Her boyfriend?

Yes, absolutely.

Ferb Fletcher. The one person she felt a closer and more special connection to than anyone else?

Quite possibly, yes.

Ferb Fletcher.

Her future husband?

…why not?

* * *

To Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, memories of the past had always been something to be cherished fondly. Sure, as Phineas' dedicated crusher, she had sometimes hyper-focused on his rare moments of close attention to her and forgotten all others, but even when she hadn't yet had her priorities straight, she had known to remember. To cherish. To be happy about what had gone by, and about its continuation in the present and the hopes it offered for the future.

And now that she finally knew what her priorities _should_ have been all along, that particular memory of her first date with Ferb stood out as a memory to be cherished above all others.

Of course, that opinion wasn't shared by everyone.

"_Laaaame_."

Honestly, Isabella Fletcher had not expected anything else from her eldest daughter. Given how unimpressed the girl had always been by her stories about constantly trying and failing to romance Phineas (and to be fair, those _hadn't_ been the most inspiring of tales), and how she had grown more rebellious into puberty, enthusiasm wasn't anything she could ask for for a story about something as embarrassing as her parents' first date. Still, it _was_ their first date, and therefore she couldn't help but feel a bit slighted at Angie's reaction.

"Thank you for your enthusiasm, Angie," she replied dryly. "It's greatly appreciated."

Angie leaned forwards. "I know, Mom," she said. "But it's really gross and corny to hear about any of that." She shrugged. "Spending an entire week obsessing over romance? That _is_ stupid."

"What about you and Xavier?" asked Milly, their younger daughter. "You can't complain about Mom and Dad loving each other when you two got together before anyone else did."

"I told you, that's _different_," Angie replied. "Xavier and I have an… arrangement. We like each other, but we don't spend days on end obsessing about it and going on about it to our friends. We're together because we're compatible. That's all."

Milly raised an eyebrow. "'Compatible'?" she repeated. "Come on, Angie. The only reason you even know that word is because you want to look cool in front of Xavier."

Angie's cheeks colored red. "I… do not," she protested. Next to her her twin, Fred, was knowingly smiling at her.

"So… why was that dictionary and a list of fancy words on the desk in your room last night?"

"You – did you break into my room?" Angie spluttered. "Mom! Did you hear that! Milly broke into my room!"

"I needed to get that comb back that I loaned out to you!" Milly protested. "And no, I couldn't just have asked you, because you were over at Xavier's."

Angie shrugged. "That's true, I guess. Can't go to bed with your hair still messy, Fluffy would never get over the trauma."

Milly snorted. "At least I still keep around my stuffed sheep and don't pretend that I've outgrown it," she replied. "Don't want to be embarrassed in front of your boyfriend, do you?"

"I'm not so hopeless that I need Xavier to tell me whether I can or can't keep stuffed animals around," Angie retorted. "I just don't. 'Cause I'm twelve."

"Come on, Angie," Milly insisted, "why are you always so sour? Stuffed animals are nice and sweet and soft – they make me feel like I'm little again!"

"You need a stuffed animal for that?"

"Mo-om!"

Isabella sighed, shaking her head. "All right, that's it. If neither of you is going to appreciate our stories over your sibling bickering, then you might as well go to your room."

"Oh, come on!"

"But Mom…"

"I didn't do anything!"

Next to her, Ferb cleared her throat. Isabella watched as he gave his children a pointed look, which was enough to silence them. One by one, the kids drooped off, Fred turning to look at them before he left the room. "Why did I have to be your only boy again?"

Isabella smirked. "Because between you and your two sisters, the three of you are more than enough of a handful," she replied.

Her son smiled, leaving a room, and Isabella's expression soured again as she looked at her husband. "Why is it that the kids listen to you and not to me?" she questioned. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she leaned against him. "No, really. I can say whatever I want, and not even Milly will take me completely seriously – I don't even have to _try_ with Angie – but one look from you and they'll shut up. It's not fair."

Ferb gently patted her arm, as he always did whenever she would ramble at him. "You have to rein it in more," he told her. "Exception breeds impression."

Isabella sighed. "If you say so." He was right, of course. He was _always_ right, and yet… "It's a pattern in our family, though. Every kid seems to look up to their father, not their mother. I bet Angie got it from Xavier. You know how much he tries to take after Phineas."

Now, it was Ferb's turn to sigh. "Xavier idolizes Phineas for his technical skills, Bella," he pointed out. "There is a difference between that and our children." He smiled cheekily, and Isabella knew _something_ was coming next. "Not to mention that you can't blame anyone for fawning over Phineas."

His wife shoved him in the ribs, but she still grinned at him and pecked him on the cheek. He was her husband, occasionally too witty for his own good but still handsome, romantic and dependable, and as recounting that story from her youth had reminded her she would never want to miss him again. Still, those memories and his quip had made something occur to her. "Do you ever still think about the fact that we were each other's second choice?" she asked. "I mean, you had Vanessa, I had Phineas…"

"Candace had Jeremy."

Isabella blinked. "Well. Yes." She didn't bother to look at the satisfied expression on his face, which was always there whenever he would manage to defuse something she was making a big deal out of in just a few words. "I guess that's true? None of us got what we wanted. None of us except for your brother, of course." She grinned. "Phineas always gets what he wants, and he's charming enough about it that no one will think to blame him for it."

Ferb's only response was to draw his wife closer, and Isabella snuggled up next to him. It _was_ true that she hadn't gotten everything she'd wanted in her youth. She had had to settle for second best, and even though she didn't think about it so much anymore, the contacts her husband and brother-in-law had made with other dimensions had reminded her in recent years of just how different her life could have gone, and how a silly crush could have actually blossomed into something.

But neither the naïve dismissal of her crush as a childish pipe dream that would have never been fulfilled, nor the knowledge she now had of the other Isabella's relationship with Phineas and its flaws, had ever been the only thing holding her back from being unhappy with Ferb. Because Phineas had long ceased to be what she wanted anyway.

She had accepted, at first, what she believed to be a fallback from Phineas. But from the first day when she had woken up after being rejected in Candace's favor, it had been more than that. Even before then, her affection for Ferb had been much more than her just 'settling' for him. She had felt passion for him and defended him throughout that week, and he had changed not just her life, he had changed _his_ life for _her_. He had settled down from his casual, flirtatious, aloof self into a more serious, more directly involved and responsible boyfriend. (Okay, that hadn't been so much of a shift in retrospect, and it had probably been bound to happen, but even so, it had loomed large over him at the time, and he had done it for her.) He had started talking more, when needed – although she had learned to communicate with him silently pretty quickly, and she had always appreciated the virtues of that.

A lot of things had changed in their lives. But it had all been easier than she had expected. Because she had genuinely fallen for Ferb Fletcher. Her husband, her closest friend, her confidant, her soul mate. And he, in turn, had fallen for her. They had enriched each other's lives. They had had three wonderful kids together. They had a house, a family, a life, jobs that they loved… maybe it wasn't what younger Isabella and Ferb would have desired most, but it was all they could ever have asked for, she knew that.

So, maybe they had gone for a second choice, for a road less traveled.

But that road had been more than worth it in the end.


End file.
